I need practical advice for what I can do with my ATAR (1 Viewer)

[thekid111]

Hey everyone, I graduated last year with an atar of 65. At the end of the day I can only blame myself, but during that time, the whole "studying" thing felt pretty worthless to me. unfortunately a few tragic events occurring outside of my school life during yr 12 effected me deeply causing me to lose diligence and care for the HSC.

I'm back in Sydney and have gained balance of my life, I feel. I want to enter a degree in Semester 2, specifically mechanical engineering. As I said, my ATAR is 65. The lowest cut-off I can find is studying at UWS (Parramatta campus) which requires 75.

I don't know much about uni prestige however the bottom line is i'm capable of working hard. What is the course of action I need to take to study this bachelors? If it's worth going the extra length to study at a better university with a higher cut-off i'll also be prepared to do so.

I have not finalised anything through the UAC yet.

I'm not quite sure how this whole thing works, so I was thinking of my 5 choices:

Select UWS Parrmatta campus for my first priority
UWS Sydney campus for my second priority (78.25)
MQU 3rd priority (80)
Random low atar course and transfer?? (to usyd or unsw?)
Random low atar course and transfer?? (to usyd or unsw?)

again, idk. that's why I'm on here for advice

I also know internships are also very important for Mech. Engineering students. Does the uni you go to effect the chances of receiving an internship? If you hypothetically took two equally high performing students from high cutoff/low cutoff unis.


BTW I did Physics, Adv. Maths, legal studies, English & Modern History in yr 12.


Anyways, thanks all. Appreciate it

 

[pikachu975]

Hey everyone, I graduated last year with an atar of 65. At the end of the day I can only blame myself, but during that time, the whole "studying" thing felt pretty worthless to me. unfortunately a few tragic events occurring outside of my school life during yr 12 effected me deeply causing me to lose diligence and care for the HSC.

I'm back in Sydney and have gained balance of my life, I feel. I want to enter a degree in Semester 2, specifically mechanical engineering. As I said, my ATAR is 65. The lowest cut-off I can find is studying at UWS (Parramatta campus) which requires 75.

I don't know much about uni prestige however the bottom line is i'm capable of working hard. What is the course of action I need to take to study this bachelors? If it's worth going the extra length to study at a better university with a higher cut-off i'll also be prepared to do so.

I have not finalised anything through the UAC yet.

I'm not quite sure how this whole thing works, so I was thinking of my 5 choices:

Select UWS Parrmatta campus for my first priority
UWS Sydney campus for my second priority (78.25)
MQU 3rd priority (80)
Random low atar course and transfer?? (to usyd or unsw?)
Random low atar course and transfer?? (to usyd or unsw?)

again, idk. that's why I'm on here for advice

I also know internships are also very important for Mech. Engineering students. Does the uni you go to effect the chances of receiving an internship? If you hypothetically took two equally high performing students from high cutoff/low cutoff unis.


BTW I did Physics, Adv. Maths, legal studies, English & Modern History in yr 12.


Anyways, thanks all. Appreciate it

If you have two high performing students they'll both get an internship anyway

 

[thekid111]

If you have two high performing students they'll both get an internship anyway

Ok thanks, that's good to hear. So the best thing to do is to get into any mechanical engineering course?
I will contact UWS about this but is it possible for me to enter UWS with a 65 atar, is there that much leniency?

And how do course transfers work exactly? If I do a random course and perform well what guarantee is there to transfer to a bachelors in Mechanical engineering (externally, or internally)

Thanks again

 

[mikestro]

I'm sorry to hear about your tragic events outside of school.
Your low ATAR may be a blessing in disguise. Most students delay their important decisions until basically when its too late, while
your ATAR does seem to force you to think about what is important for you right now.
I don't really buy the strategy of scraping through the cracks and then transferring to a more prestigious school trying to look like a normal student. Its little things like this that you do not have the luxury of wasting your time considering. You need to focus on what matters first!
Questions like: Do you want to study mechanical engineering that much? Is it something you've always wanted to do? Your choice of subjects do not suggest this to me and I worry that your maths background may be too weak to take it on. (I'm sorry I don't know you)
University may not be the best path for you either (and this applies to people getting whatever ATAR), what is your motivation for going to uni, please don't let it be because it seems like the normal thing to do. You will incur a huge debt which you have to pay whether or not the degree actually helps you.