HSC 2020: Top private school warns early entry students not to get complacent
A top private school teacher has warned Year 12 students caught slacking off they may lose a spot already earned in university under early admissions schemes.
NSW
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Complacent HSC students with early entry offers for university next year have been warned they still need to study hard or they could lose their guaranteed spot.
University Admission Centre marketing manager Kim Paino confirmed students should keep studying because some early offers came with strings attached.
“I’m sure it’s tempting to relax a bit now, but many of these offers are conditional on finishing your HSC and some even have a minimum ATAR requirement,” she said.
“But what I would say to those students is to keep studying and do their best in their HSC exams.”
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St Andrew’s Cathedral School’s Year 12 careers adviser Des Sinovich told students a loophole meant if they failed their exams, universities could rescind their offer.
“I am becoming concerned by reports from some teachers that some Year 12 students have adopted this attitude of complacency and decreasing engagement,” he wrote in the Sydney school’s newsletter.
“If you have received an Early Offer and now believe that you can slacken off and not work to full capacity and the expectations of all your teachers — you are living dangerously.”
The teacher at the $34,000-a-year school said the early offer schemes were “essentially marketing exercises to attract students to institutions” and students would still need to perform well in their exams.
“Institutions are competing for students. Even with this, no institution will risk enrolling a student who has not met the entry requirements. Their reputation and funding are at risk.”
The number of Year 12 students applying for early entry schemes has jumped by a huge 45 per cent compared to the same time last year, University Admission data released on Tuesday reveals.
So far 23,000 students have applied for special early entry programs to shore up a university spot before they start their HSC exams in October, while a total of 60,000 have applied for tertiary study next year.
Under the early entry scheme, students are rated by their high school teachers in subjects, including maths and English, as well as judging students’ aptitude in other areas, including abstract thought and analysis.
Early offer places are offered by different universities throughout the latter half of 2020. The University of Wollongong makes early offers as early as September, well ahead of main round offers in December.
For students who are waiting on their exam results to decide their Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, they can preference five different courses in their application to get into university.
The most popular courses for next year were in the Health field of study, with 27.2 per cent of all courses.
The Society and Culture field of study, which includes humanities and law degrees and language study, was the most popular choice for students this year, taking up 22 per cent.