How important are extracurricular activities to universities? (1 Viewer)

[erucibon]

I'm worried my extracurricular life is poor as I basically dropped off from them around year 11, so how much will this impact my application?

 

[jazz519]

It depends what you mean by application. If you are referring to getting into a uni, no it doesn't matter at all. The entry is based off your ATAR for most courses aside from medicine and law where you usually have to do some other test and might have interviews. If you are referring to things like scholarships that are focused on all round skills, then yes it could potentially, unless it is an academic based scholarship where they mainly only look at marks

 

[Velocifire]

It depends on what you mean by an application. If you are referring to getting into uni, no it doesn't matter at all. The entry is based on your ATAR for most courses aside from medicine and law where you usually have to do some other test and might have interviews. If you are referring to things like scholarships that are focused on all-round skills, then yes it could potentially, unless it is an academic-based scholarship where they mainly only look at marks

Thanks for the info, lifted the weight of my shoulder as I'm not the type of person to argue in-front of an audience or to kick a ball across an oval.

So what if I want to do Medicine or Law at Uni and Get the ATAR for the courses but don't reach the "other tests" like UCAT you mentioned and vice versa if you are slightly off the ATAR but do extremely well in those other criteria. (asking on the behalf of a friend who isn't on the forums).

 

[quickoats]

Thanks for the info, lifted the weight of my shoulder as I'm not the type of person to argue in-front of an audience or to kick a ball across an oval.

So what if I want to do Medicine or Law at Uni and Get the ATAR for the courses but don't reach the "other tests" like UCAT you mentioned and vice versa if you are slightly off the ATAR but do extremely well in those other criteria.

It’s not that they’ll lower their admissions standards for you, just because you have a stellar extra curricular record, but the things you demonstrate through them might be good for your application. Let’s say there’s 2 med applicants with comparable ATARs and UCAT statistics, and participation in the exact same extra curriculars. The one who demonstrates leadership skills, compassion and what not from their participation is more likely to get an offer than the one who just did the extra commitments for the sake of it.

 

[jazz519]

Thanks for the info, lifted the weight of my shoulder as I'm not the type of person to argue in-front of an audience or to kick a ball across an oval.

So what if I want to do Medicine or Law at Uni and Get the ATAR for the courses but don't reach the "other tests" like UCAT you mentioned and vice versa if you are slightly off the ATAR but do extremely well in those other criteria.

Yeah I'm not too familiar with the medicine scene since never did UCAT or anything of that sort, but each uni has different criteria in medicine, some higher than others and some lower. It's a very competitive degree in terms of the amount of people wanting to do it and that's why therefore the standards are higher than other stuff and they use those interviews and other things as a contributing factor (but marks are still important)

 

[idkkdi]

Thanks for the info, lifted the weight of my shoulder as I'm not the type of person to argue in-front of an audience or to kick a ball across an oval.

So what if I want to do Medicine or Law at Uni and Get the ATAR for the courses but don't reach the "other tests" like UCAT you mentioned and vice versa if you are slightly off the ATAR but do extremely well in those other criteria.

They have to leave bonus marks for those that are extremely good in extracurriculars. No way a guy who trained himself to national level in swimming getting a 99.5 is the same as the guy who did not and got 99.5.

Med, 99.95 for USYD bachelors +postgrad course, no UCAT. UNSW, UCAT + ATAR, both are chucked together and adjusted. UCAT is more valuable for UNSW and other universities, because most applicants can get ~99 ATARs, but not a 96-99 UCAT.

For Law UNSW, you take LAT and ATAR averages in the ~98 range? Same way of adjusting. Usyd, 99.5 ATAR.

 

[Velocifire]

I'm just talking about regular co-curricular activities that most people can do like SRC, Debating or Team Sports at a club level. Obviously a guy that has achievements and is known nation-wide for his talent would be granted special provisions.

Yo! Why do you wanna escape Australia for Undergrad? If you get the max ATAR why leave? You know you can't leave AU until 2023 right?

 

[idkkdi]

I'm just talking about regular co-curricular activities that most people can do like SRC, Debating or Team Sports at a club level. Obviously a guy that has achievements and is known nation-wide for his talent would be granted special provisions.

Yo! Why do you wanna escape Australia for Undergrad? If you get the max ATAR why leave? You know you can't leave AU until 2023 right?

Regular extra-curriculars are essentially useless. But, it might be useful for interviews for Med. Don't think there are interviews for law.

Btw, it's not that I can't leave AU, it's that AU travel levels won't return to normal until 2023. Why do I want to escape Australia for undergrad? Because Australia is mediocre at everything as far as I know.

 

[Velocifire]

Fair enough.

Well, Australia's excellent for having consecutive national problems, any idea of what's happening next?

Scorching Start to the year with the BF, Floods, Drought, Water, COVID 19, Economic Downfall.

Seems like a spin the wheel of what disaster should be inflicted to AU

 

[idkkdi]

Fair enough.

Well, Australia's excellent for having consecutive national problems, any idea of what's happening next?

Scorching Start to the year with the BF, Floods, Drought, Water, COVID 19, Economic Downfall.

Seems like a spin the wheel of what disaster should be inflicted to AU

Bushfire is just straight up pyromaniacs setting the forest on fire because the sentences are too light.

 

[Velocifire]

TRUE yeah thats right

 

[quickoats]

So what if I want to do Medicine or Law at Uni

On another note, what makes you want to do medicine and/or law? Nothing wrong with it, but usually those who aim for med/law (or both in one go - e.g. Monash MBBS LLB) have motives that are usually based on prestige rather than their enjoyment/interest in the disciplines.

 

[idkkdi]

On another note, what makes you want to do medicine and/or law? Nothing wrong with it, but usually those who aim for med/law (or both in one go - e.g. Monash MBBS LLB) have motives that are usually based on prestige rather than their enjoyment/interest in the disciplines.

You guessed his motive. $0.0001 cents on it. I'm guessing Velocifire doesn't have any striking interests. As such, going the prestige/bigmoney route. Law's money is questionable though. You, however, clearly enjoy Maths?

 

[Velocifire]

Gotta cashapp me that money...

I meant to replace law for engineering... more likely to break the law than to teach people to stay below it.


Not really, or at least compared to you I don't like maths. TBH planning to drop 3u later because it makes 2u a whole lot easier. (The context sounded like you were talking to me). I have dyslexia

 

[quickoats]

You guessed his motive. $0.0001 cents on it. I'm guessing Velocifire doesn't have any striking interests. As such, going the prestige/bigmoney route. Law's money is questionable though. You, however, clearly enjoy Maths?

Yep, you're right in guessing that I love maths. In particular, I'm passionate about numeracy and mathematical literacy - something that I feel is becoming a much more prominent issue in society as people 'reject' maths from their life. There's nothing quite like that "aha" moment when you finally wrap your head around a concept, and it's even better when you see someone else have that lightbulb moment. Sadly, I'm not doing a BEd - I just don't think I'm ready to go back into the classroom just yet. Although teaching is a very respectable job, I just think that the education system needs a heap of reform as its the way to secure the future.

Just my 2 cents (more like 20c), whilst the money in law is questionable (Australia has an oversupply of lawyers), the prestige is certainly still there. Part of this is due to societal perceptions, but sadly, ATAR cut off plays a large role. Drop the ATAR cutoff of medicine and law to 65, and raise the ATAR of education/social work to 99.5, and you'll probably a bunch of high achievers flocking there just because it has a high cutoff. Same with idea like BAdvSc or BSc(Adv) vs BSc. At my school, nobody would touch the BSc degree since the cutoff hovers around 75-80, but BAdvSc is very popular (even though its practically the same thing, bar a couple of more difficult units). So sometimes it isn't even about making big bank, its about maximising your ATAR expenditure.

 

[Velocifire]

[/QUOTE]

Yep, you're right in guessing that I love maths. In particular, I'm passionate about numeracy and mathematical literacy - something that I feel is becoming a much more prominent issue in society as people 'reject' maths from their life. There's nothing quite like that "aha" moment when you finally wrap your head around a concept, and it's even better when you see someone else have that lightbulb moment. Sadly, I'm not doing a BEd - I just don't think I'm ready to go back into the classroom just yet. Although teaching is a very respectable job, I just think that the education system needs a heap of reform as its the way to secure the future.

Just my 2 cents (more like 20c), whilst the money in law is questionable (Australia has an oversupply of lawyers), the prestige is certainly still there. Part of this is due to societal perceptions, but sadly, ATAR cut off plays a large role. Drop the ATAR cutoff of medicine and law to 65, and raise the ATAR of education/social work to 99.5, and you'll probably a bunch of high achievers flocking there just because it has a high cutoff. Same with idea like BAdvSc or BSc(Adv) vs BSc. At my school, nobody would touch the BSc degree since the cutoff hovers around 75-80, but BAdvSc is very popular (even though its practically the same thing, bar a couple of more difficult units). So sometimes it isn't even about making big bank, its about maximising your ATAR expenditure.

Wow, his went too off-topic from someone just wanting to know if extra-curricular activities affect their Uni Application.

 

[StephenLewisreuw]

The extracurricular activities are important for your personal development, but also for the application at university...

 

[hschelper01]

It makes a big impact if you're applying for scholarships (places like UTS honestly look at what you do more than your actual ATAR) - otherwise, if it's just a general uni application it doesn't matter...

 

[jazz519]

It makes a big impact if you're applying for scholarships (places like UTS honestly look at what you do more than your actual ATAR) - otherwise, if it's just a general uni application it doesn't matter...

Just to add to this yes it's true some scholarships are based on all round performance (marks, extracurriculars, application etc.), which would probably be the majority of the scholarships in most uni, particularly in business, actuarial and some engineering degrees

But there are also scholarships based mainly on academics and an application of around 2k words, without interviews in science based degrees, which were the scholarships I got offered. So if you are someone who excepts a high ATAR of 98+ then you should look into those as well, as it's a small application and a good chance for you to get most of your degree for free

 

[hschelper01]

Just to add to this yes it's true some scholarships are based on all round performance (marks, extracurriculars, application etc.), which would probably be the majority of the scholarships in most uni, particularly in business, actuarial and some engineering degrees

But there are also scholarships based mainly on academics and an application of around 2k words, without interviews in science based degrees, which were the scholarships I got offered. So if you are someone who excepts a high ATAR of 98+ then you should look into those as well, as it's a small application and a good chance for you to get most of your degree for free

Hmmm yeah that's a good point... I guess it really depends on what you're applying for.