has anyone gotten into courses with atar a below the cutoff? (1 Viewer)

[Sombreteen]

Today it dawned on me that I might not get into the course at the uni I want. I was quite relaxed all year because I thought I’d get an atar if 88 to get into my course with ease but after I botched my trials my estimated atar has fallen to around 85.55 (using matrix) ... now I’m pretty scared. I want to get into a bachelor of science (international) at UNSW and I’m quite sure I’ll get a minimum of band 5s in chem and bio and 4 I mathematics. I’m pretty sure that will add up to 5 extra points which will get me above the atar cutoff for guaranteed entry.. but what if I botch my hsc?! I’m worried that my atar will be a couple points below the cutoff and I’ll have to do the course at a different uni. I know that that’s not the end of the world but I like the Kensington campus because of the atmosphere and the food and I’m also considering living on the campus because my mum wants to travel after I finish school and wants to pay for my accommodation near the campus.. so going to my preferred uni is really important to me.

What I’m getting to is.. I heard that unis usually accept a lot of people who don’t meet the atar cutoffs (I’m not sure if this is true with UNSW as well) and I was wondering if this has happened to anyone here. If so, how many atar points were you below the mark? Should I be worried? I’m really scared.

Oh and also.. I go to a school in the bottom 500+ and scaling won’t help me. My cohorts pretty bad. As in I’m coming first in literally every subject so I guess it won’t affect me but I’m definitely not gonna be saved and my exam’s were probably relatively easy compared to other schools and I still didn’t do as well as I expected to.

Please can someone tell me honestly if I have a chance of getting in if my atar ends up below the cutoff. Obviously I’m going to work really hard to improve my marks but I’m still really worried. Thanks guys.

 

[BLIT2014]

Yes I know people who have gotten in with ATAR below the cutoffs. Additionally, you could always do an internal transfer through arts or something which will likely have a lower cutoff. HSC exam also counts for 50% of your overall mark, so you still have time to make improvements.

 

[MONONYMOUS]

Yes, you can still get into that degree. You might be able to get some bonus points too.

 

[Katsumi]

I got into USYD Commerce (95 minimum) and UTS BIT Co-op (Typically 95 minimum) with 90.95.

It’s definitely possible. Put your hat in the ring.