How to turn your VCE arts success into a career
Victoria’s top VCE arts students and schools have been revealed, but acing the ATAR is just one pathway to making it at university. See which schools had the most high achievers, the perfect scoring students and how to make it as a creative.
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Most creative students looking to turn their talents into a career will begin that journey at school.
One of the top performing schools in Victoria for art-related VCE subjects was McKinnon Secondary College, which had at least 14 students achieve study scores of 40 or higher in Studio Arts in 2018.
Lauriston Girls’ School in Armadale, Methodist Ladies’ College in Kew and the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School all had at least 10 high Studio Arts achievers, while Presbyterian Ladies College in Burwood had 18 high scorers across the Studio Arts and Art VCE subjects.
The University of Melbourne’s Head of VCA Art, Dr Kate Daw, said students who studied fine art became deep and critical thinkers, skills that were now highly regarded.
She said hundreds of students applied each year for the 120 undergraduate places in five different disciplines: painting, drawing, printmaking, photography and sculpture.
But acing a VCE arts subject isn’t the only pathway to a uni arts course.
“We don’t even look at students’ ATARs,” Dr Daw said.
“They may be extremely academically strong, but we’re looking for a kind of creative intelligence which may not be measured by a conventional VCE score.”
The interview process is arduous.
“We want to see if they are going to manage at art school. A lot of it isn’t about having beautiful finished work, it’s about having a type of curiosity and an appetite for being challenged, and a great capacity to work independently.”
Although students present their high-school folios as part of the interview process, Dr Daw said the VCA wanted to find students whose passion for art went beyond course requirements.
“What we love to see are their notebooks, visual diaries and all the things they make alongside their school folios,” she said.
As part of the Bachelor of Fine Art, students learn how to survive as an artist, develop a business plan, document their artwork, communicate their ideas to curators and apply for grants and scholarships.
Art and Design educator Mark Russell said there were about 60 different courses in the creative arts, making it a daunting choice for school students.
The Northern College of the Arts and Technology (NCAT) where he works in the Folio Preparation course, offers a Year 13, which helps students figure out which tertiary course suits them best before making a large financial commitment.
Mr Russell said many universities used the ATAR to select students for art and design courses, which made it hard for creative people with lower scores.
“Fortunately we can offer alternative pathways,” he said.
“We offer a Certificate IV in Visual Arts or Design and that will usually outweigh an ATAR score.
“We’re also part of a very unique program, the VCAL Senior Extension — Folio Enhancement certificate, which offers bonus points on ATAR scores as well.”
He said some NCAT Folio Preparation graduates went straight into the second year of their university course, thanks to a formal arrangement with Monash University and informal arrangements with other universities and TAFE institutes.
Although independent art and design colleges provide similar pathways, their fees are about $10,000-$15,000 a year.
“We are state funded so there are tuition costs, with our students paying less than $1000 for materials only,” Mr Russell said.
HIGH ART ACHIEVERS FOR 2018*
Number of students who achieved study scores of 40+ (and consented to their results being released).
ART
Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Burwood: 9
Strathcona Baptist Girls Grammar, Canterbury: 7
Sacred Heart Girls’ College, Hughesdale: 6
Loreto Mandeville Hall, Toorak: 5
The Geelong College, Newtown: 5
Eltham College, Research: 4
Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar, Ivanhoe: 4
Victorian College of the Arts, Southbank: 4
STUDENTS WHO GOT A PERFECT SCORE
Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School, Ivanhoe
BARRETT, Emma
WALDMAN, Ella
Melbourne Grammar School, Melbourne
OLNEY-FRASER, Matthew
STUDIO ARTS
McKinnon Secondary College, McKinnon: 14
Lauriston Girls’ School, Armadale: 10
Methodist Ladies’ College, Kew: 10
Victorian College ofthe Arts Secondary School, Southbank: 10
Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Burwood: 9
Melbourne Grammar School, Melbourne: 9
Star of the Sea College, Brighton: 8
Avila College, Mount Waverley: 6
Princes Hill Secondary College, Princes Hill: 6
St Catherine’s School, Toorak: 6
Toorak College, Mount Eliza: 6
Ballarat Clarendon College, Ballarat: 5
Caulfield Grammar, Wheelers Hill: 5
Ivanhoe Girls Grammar, Ivanhoe: 5
Shelford Girls’ Grammar, Caulfield: 5
Loreto Mandeville Hall, Toorak: 5
The Geelong College, Newtown: 5
STUDENTS WHO GOT A PERFECT SCORE
Lauriston Girls’ School, Armadale
RICE, Emma
Presbyterian Ladies’ College
BOX, Erin
Spencer, Brittany
St Monica’s College, Epping
DI MARCO, Jesse
Academy of Mary Immaculate, Fitzroy
BASDEKIS, Stephanie
Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School, Ivanhoe
JIANG, Betty
Elisabeth Murdoch College, Keysborough
SMITH, Emily
Alice Miller School, Macedon
MALPAS, Sasha
McKinnon Secondary College, McKinnon
ROOHIZADEGAN, Lucia
Ivanhoe Grammar School Plenty, Mernda
MOK, Christine
St Michael’s Grammar School, St Kilda
SMEATON, Bronte
*Excludes results where permission not granted by student to include in VCAA public data
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