Help! What to do about uni?

[leotlion]

I’ve quite literally had the worst day today. I feel like complete and utter garbage because my worst nightmare has come true. Yesterday was horrible as well. I found out that due to my own incompetence, I ruined my 96 Assessment Mark for Modern History by dragging it down to an overall HSC mark of 92 by getting an external examination mark of 87. The 9 mark gap between 96 and 87 was very painful for me look at but I didn’t realise its true ramifications till today. I needed a 99.50 to get into the Arts/Law course I wanted to get into at USYD. And I got a 99.45. It was like getting stabbed by a knife. 0.05 away from what I needed.  All thanks to my own incompetence and screwup in the external HSC exam. If I had gotten a band 6 exam mark, I’d be getting 99.50 or higher. I’m going to get a results check from NESA because I’ve seen this article about a girl who was in a super similar position I am in now: https://www.smh.com.au/education/check-finds-hsc-student-robbed-of-13-marks-in-modern-history-paper-20140115-30v44.html

But I don’t have much hope for that. I’m 99% sure there was no error because I myself found the paper harder than expected.

Anyway, that brings me to the question. Does USYD ever give out any offers to anyone slightly below the “guaranteed ATAR”? Is the guaranteed ATAR the lowest ATAR which will receive an offer? Apparently, according to their website. But also on their website statistics I’ve seen non-pathway statistics (people who aren’t on EAS etc.) get into courses with an ATAR lower than the guaranteed ATAR. Take a look at this: https://sydney.edu.au/study/admissions/apply/admission-criteria/undergraduate-academic-requirements/atar-explained.html

Take a look at the Bachelor of Science or the Bachelor of Economics. People got in non-pathways through ATAR with ATARs lower than the 80 and 90 guaranteed ATAR, respectively. Don’t know if this is giving false hope or anything.

In the very likely case that I won’t receive an offer, what should I do next? I did LAT as a backup achieving a result of 86/100 (88th percentile) which I don’t even know is good or not because LAT is so new. But I really want to go to USYD. Should I just do the Bachelor of Arts/Advanced Studies at USYD requiring a 95 ATAR which I can get into and then transfer into Arts/Law after 1 year? that way, I can complete units of study I would be doing anyway if I was doing arts/Law. But would that set me back on time because I didn’t complete any law units? Or should I just go to UNSW if I get an offer? Or should I go to UNSW and then transfer to USYD after 1 year. Please help. It’s 1 AM in the dead of night at the moment and I’m just feeling like utter and complete trash because i didn’t achieve my ATAR goal by such a tiny tiny margin due to a Modern History bad performance. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Sorry for the long the post and I really appreciate you taking the time to read up to here.

I guess I’m going to Info day to ask more questions!!
 

[leotlion]

Meanwhile, I’ll just be here crying uncontrollably,  contemplating over and over again how I screwed up my HSC and how my entire’s year worth of effort amounted to nothing. All that effort working on assessments, securing high ranks, studying for exams, thrown away by one crucial mistake. 99.45. A miss is as good as a mile. Last year, I envisioned myself at the end of 2018 celebrating my ATAR and being happy, not feeling totally miserable and completely worthless. I know I’m probably annoying you all right by wallowing in self-pity and negativity but I guess you can see the extent of how bad I’m feeling if I’m pathetic enough to rant out my entire situation on ATARNotes just to get it out of my system.

[Bri MT]

Hey,

First off, none of us think you're pathetic or annoying. Right now you're hurting, and if telling us about it can provide any measure of relief from that then I'm glad you've done it. Second of all, I wouldn't be sure that being .05 under is as big a miss as a mile. I'm not familiar with USYD so I can't be highly confident when I say this, but to me "guaranteed ATAR" means that if you go below that there's still a chance - you're just not guaranteed entry.

As a science student I can't really provide advice about what pathway would be most useful to you - but hopefully someone else on the forums can

Definitely go to the info day and seek clarification; they'll know more there.


Good luck


PS. If your ATAR allows you to have more choice over pathways, if you learnt this year and/or, if you've experienced personal development - then this year & your efforts weren't a waste.

[jamonwindeyer]

I think a 99.45 is a very competitive ATAR for USYD Law. Go chat to them at the Open Day, but you definitely can get in below that 'guaranteed' threshold, most people are below it! Try and keep positive because I don't think you should be too worried - Plus, there are always other ways to get where you want to be (EG - internal transfer)

Edit: Update, chatted to our English lecturer Emily who does USYD Law, most of her friends got less than 99.50. I think you are going to be fine!

[leotlion]

Thank you guys for replying! Unfortunately after talking to people at Info Day, it appears that the 99.50 is a strict cut-off and that offers won't be made to anyone below that 

Everyone at USYD today recommended doing an Arts degree at USYD and then transferring after the first year! They were quite optimistic about my chances at transferring due to my ATAR being so close. However, the only doubts I have about this is that you need to have excellent first year results as they look at both first year results and ATAR. I know next to nothing about uni assessments. People at USYD said I should maintain at least a distinction level WAM (75+ I think from memory?). How doable is this? I have my heart set on going to USYD but what if I reject a potential UNSW combined Law offer in order to do an Arts degree at USYD but then fail to get a transfer due to bad first year results?! 

Oh and Jamon, thanks for reaching out to Emily (she's like such an inspirational role model and her lectures at UTS were AMAZING! ) However, she was a 2016 graduate so her (and her friends') uni offer circumstances were different to mine unfortunately. In 2017, USYD introduced their "fixed guaranteed ATAR" which is apparently a STRICT cut-off according to the info I received today at Info Day
https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2017/08/21/university-ends-uncertainty-with-fixed-atar-.html

So yeah, that's a real shame 

I just wish that my results check that I'm going to order will come back favourably or that someone in my grade gets a successful results check that affects the moderation of my assessment marks favourably in order to push my ATAR that slight bit up to 99.50 but the chances of that happening are real slim so I shouldn't hope on that

[Bri MT]

75+ WAM requires putting in effort, but I'd say it's achievable.

Just like with study scores difficulty is subjective, but I don't see any reason why you couldn't achieve it

[jamonwindeyer]

I'm still skeptical/confused. That scheme is a guaranteed entry ATAR, not a cut-off ATAR. Meaning, if you get that ATAR, you get in. Not, if you don't get that ATAR, you don't get in. There is a big difference there, and nothing in the documentation I've read on their scheme (I know it exists!) suggests it is a strict cut off. So either something has been lost in translation, or USYD needs to change how they word their documentation on the scheme (at least how it reads on their website).

I would be keeping USYD Law as first preference in the first round - What their documentation does suggest is that the cut-off is kept constant throughout offer rounds. Meaning after the first round, you will know either way, and you can adjust accordingly if you need to

[hehenag]

update please? did u get in to sydney? what are you doing now? I'm hooked