Fairholme College Toowoomba 2023 top ATAR graduates to pursue medicine

Not only did Julia Rathie and Janithya Dharmawardhane both score ATARs above 99, they have also committed to medicine this year. Read about the special people who inspired them to become doctors

Two Fairholme students have set their sights on futures in medicine after securing some of the best ATAR scores in Queensland in 2023.

Graduates Julia Rathie and Janithya Dharmawardhane received scores of 99.35 and 99.25 respectively, joining just a few hundred other teenagers across the state with ATARs above 99.

Both will now embark on a collective 13 years of studying in the field of medicine, after picking up their first choice universities just weeks ago.

To read about their journeys and the people who inspired them to become doctors:

Julia Rathie

Fairholme College 2023 graduate Julia Rathie.

While she always knew medicine was probably in her future, Toowoomba’s Julia Rathie said watching her brother Peter battle leukaemia played a huge role in her decision to become a doctor.

“I saw first-hand the work that doctors did with him – it affected me and inspired me,” she said.

“It really motivated me to do medicine.”

Julia, who topped her grade at Fairholme College last year with an ATAR of 99.35, will now pursue a seven-year degree at the University of Queensland thanks to her impressive score and interview.

Fairholme College 2023 graduate Julia Rathie, with her brother Peter.

The Toowoomba girl said her brother was among the first people she told when she found out both the ATAR and university results.

“It was a great relief, that all my hard work had paid off — I told my parents first and texted him,” Julia said.

“He’s doing the same course as me — he’s already done two years of biomedical science.

“I got offers to other places, but UQ was what fit for me.”

Julia said Fairholme was instrumental in securing her result, saying even the principal Dr Linda Evans played a role help her nail the university interviews.

“In the weeks leading up to the external exams, I saw my teachers constantly – I had such dedicated teachers and I attribute a lot of my success to them,” she said.

“I even had my own principal assisting me with mock interviews for medicine to make sure I nailed them.

“I’m so incredibly lucky to have all the teachers and staff at Fairholme — I felt very loved and cared for.”

Janithya Dharmawardhane

Fairholme College graduate Janithya Dharmawardhane achieved an ATAR of 99.25, Monday, January 22, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

After discovering she was one of the top students across Queensland in 2023, Janithya Dharmawardhane couldn’t wait to tell her biggest fan — her grandmother.

“She’s my biggest supporter (and) she was really excited – we went to Sri Lanka recently and she was really happy when I told her,” she said.

The Fairholme College graduate is currently packing her bags to study medicine at the University of Adelaide, after securing an astonishing 99.25 on her ATAR result.

The score puts her among some of the state’s brightest minds, with just a few hundred receiving a result above 99.

“I was really happy – I didn’t know what to expect, I was hoping for a 99 but I didn’t know it would happen,” Janithya said.

Earning her first preference of University of Adelaide, Janithya said she was inspired to study medicine thanks to the support and guidance of both her parents and grandmother.

“When I was young, my grandma was a nurse and (I saw) her helping her community in Sri Lanka,” she said.

“She was in a little rural community and I saw how she provided medical support to people — her compassion for people resonated with me.”

Along with a gruelling set of subjects, including specialist maths, biology and chemistry, Janithya said Fairholme gave her plenty of resources and access to placements that cemented her desire to study medicine.

“I did the Cert III in allied health with Fairholme and I assisted a nurse as part of a placement at St Andrew’s Hospital,” she said.

Fairholme College graduate Janithya Dharmawardhane achieved an ATAR of 99.25, Monday, January 22, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“While I was there, I saw doctors interacting and saw how they have that long-term look at a patient’s health, not just inside but outside the hospital as well.

“(I knew) that was the kind of the work I wanted to do.

“Later I went to Goolburri Aboriginal Health Advancement and chatted to GPs there and that consolidated my passion.

“Fairrholme was really important, they provided so much extra support and resources that I needed to get this (result).

“I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Moving to a new city to study is always a challenge, but Janithya revealed her parents were actually moving with her.

“My brother goes to university there and my parents want to move there,” she said.

“I love my pet dogs, so once we all move to Adelaide I can visit on the weekends.”