Looking for some University advice? (1 Viewer)

[Episodic Erudite]

Hi, I was kinda hoping people might be able to give me some advice with thinking about what university and courses are worth enrolling into.
I'm currently in year 11, just completed a gifted and talented course (students can apply for a Critical Thinking course) at mq uni with a high distinction, meaning I can then do another unit based on a variety of selections. I'm doing acc. math ext 1 so I'm in the middle of my HSC, meaning I might be able to do some mathematics in university next year whilst I do my HSC.
I'm looking for ideas regarding universities in Australia and overseas and how I might be able to use my MQ experience and results (Critical thinking will go towards my HSC [but not ATAR]) in my application for these universities.


First of all, by the time I finish my HSC, I could finish 3 more MQ units, and if I get another distinction I'll get an early offer into MQ. Issue is I'd like to goto a better university than MQ. I'd rather goto ANU or study overseas at a university of similar or greater reputation.

Here's some context:

The courses most in my interest at MQ either aren't available at all, or only available if I take time out of my schooling. These good courses would include mathematics, mechanics, some interesting philosophy, all of which I'm interested in and might secure me good positions in a university other than MQ (if I get HD's and stuff). There are some less interesting courses of similar credit and wouldn't take time out of school but I don't think I would have the invested interest necessary to do well in them. There is one exception which is the formal logic course, which I'd do well in due to taking the stanford coursera course on logic but I don't know if this would have so much credit.

If I decide to take time out of school to do a mathematics course I probably won't perform as well for my HSC, practically giving up the courses I'm interested in at ANU (Bachelor of Philosophy- 99 ATAR). I could use my MQ course experience and knowledge to apply overseas, but i don't know how successful this would be. There might also be a chance that ANU will accept me regardless of meeting the ATAR cutoff due to performance in these courses, or perhaps I would be able to move universities after school and after some study and good results at MQ. But I'm not interested in studying at MQ, studying overseas might be too expensive and I also don't know how successful these approaches would be or if they could ever be (that's why I'm asking here).

So, I have three options:
Focus on the HSC (ANU- still risky)
Focus on MQ courses (overseas or alternative placement into ANU.)
Focus on both (Risky, might secure a scholarship overseas, might secure a position at ANU)

There's always the option I study at MQ for my bachelors and then apply overseas for my Masters but I just don't think this is preferrable because of the opportunities I'll miss.

I'm just looking for advice or information if anyone could be so kind to offer any,
thanks.

 

[BLIT2014]

Just focus on your HSC. Unless you want credit for the courses you've done if you do a course at Macquarie, it's quite pointless. Sure, it would be great for scholarship applications but don't stress yourself out.

If you want to go to a “better uni” then MQ probably better focusing on your HSC

 

[boredofstudiesuser1]

I did this same GAT early entry thing you're talking about at MQ and I would say it's pretty near to pointless pursuing it further if you're not interested in MQ. I'd also say that if you have higher ambitions, and aren't worried to work extremely hard in HSC that you aim for what you most want to do (which seems to be the ANU or overseas thing) and don't let an early entry offer tie you down. I haven't heard of those extra 2 units you mentioned (I only did PHL137 and my additional unit was ASTR178 [astronomy]).
I find that getting the unconditional early entry takes off an enormous amount of HSC pressure, but if you're willing to put in the work for ANU, go for it. The unit workload for PHL137 was nothing compared to the workload for the second unit, so just consider whether or not it will interfere with your studies (especially since it's first term of year 12 halfway through it). I mean, even if you complete the units but don't plan on going to MQ, you'll still have to work just as hard in HSC AND still have the uncertainty of whether or not they'll give special consideration for the units you did.

Which of the degrees would you accept from the program if you were to do it?

 

[Episodic Erudite]

Thanks for the advice, I haven't been able to speak to anyone who's already done their second unit. I also did PH137, and now I'm doing Formal Logic PH134.
If I accept the program I'd likely do an Advanced Science degree.

I'm still going to talk to my careers advisor because I'm interested in studying and then possibly requesting to do a similar thing at other universities or get a headstart in mathematics next year (whilst doing my HSC). I'm doing 14 units this year , including the mq course, and atm im doing 3u math during prelims so I'll only have 7 units to do for my HSC, which is half of what I'm currently doing. The HSC will be a lot less stressful because of this and I think I may have the capacity to go for the course, i just don't know if it's worth it yet.