Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program

[Eriny]

I was the only one who applied from my school. So I got in, lol. I don't know if anyone is applying this year. The program is okay, really. I'm sure a great deal of it is promotions, but I really don't care if they send "propaganda" to my house. If nothing else, it looks pretty damn good on my CV and it could potentially lead to other opportunities as well, especially if I actually go to Melbourne and do their leadership activities. Plus, I didn't have to wait in a huge line for a sausage on Open Day, which is always a positive.

[Pencil]

haha yeah eriny i thought the same. They obviously just want to promote their melbourne model, but if we benefit, who cares??

[Toothpaste]

The email they sent:
Further to the below email, I am writing to provide you with an update regarding the notification of the selection outcome for the Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program. There has been a delay in the selection process for current Year 11 students, who will commence Year 12 in 2008.

The selection panel are finalising their selection of Year 11 students into the Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program. You can expect to be notified as to the outcome of your application (successful or otherwise) by mail on Thursday 13 December.

Thank you for your understanding and interest in the Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program.
Thank you for your application for the Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program.
We have been delighted with the high level of interest from so many outstanding students throughout the Victorian and border school community.

Please note that the selection panel is in the process of finalising their selection. All applicants will be notified by mail of the selection outcome as follows:

·         Year 10 students (commencing Year 11 in 2008) – Friday 23 November 2007 
·         Year 11 students (commencing Year 12 in 2008) – Friday 7 December 2007

Successful Year 10 applicants will be invited to attend an all-day welcome event held on the University of Melbourne campus on Thursday 6 December 2007. Further details of this event will be emailed to the successful applicants on Friday 23 November 2007.

For successful Year 11 applicants, a welcome event will be held at the University of Melbourne in February 2008. Students will be provided with more details of the event early in the new year.

Thank you again for your interest in the Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program.

Yup. Meh.

[golids]

Maybe in a few years time Melb Uni will get their act together and make this program have better advantages for the people involved

amen to that

[kingmar]

What can you ask of them? What do you want of the university?

We had like 25 applicants from our school, including me. I didn't get in, but what can I do? The competition is simply too high to allow everyone in.

I think it's well aimed. If you bother to apply, you care. It's simple as that. They don't need to bribe people to join the program.

[poiuyt06]

what are you all on about?, don't you know that you are offered a commonwealth suported place of your choice with an enter of 90 (provided you attend an under-represented school) or 95 even if you don't attend an under-represented school. That's awesome, imo, easier to get into the most prestigous university in Melbourne, no need for a rediculously high enter to get into law (99) etc...

[ninwa]

yea, but remember you can no longer get into law at UoM at undergrad level anyway

so the only places you can get are those 6 "melbourne model" places. like arts, commerce, music, science, none of which require "ridiculously high" ENTERs anyway. e.g. I think arts only needs like 85?

I think the KLD program is really a waste of time with minimal benefits ... all these so called "benefits" like the CSP place of your choice thing are just things which sound nice but are really useless once you look at it properly

[Collin Li]

I think the KLD program is really a waste of time with minimal benefits

Oh well, the smaller the benefits, the fewer the applicants. It is in Melbourne University's interests to increase their benefits if they want more applicants for KLD, so that they can have a better range of applicants to choose from.

[ninwa]

maybe not. many people will get sucked in by the promises and 'benefits' of being a KLD scholar which sound good, without really investigating enough to realise that they are useless. or maybe i'm just bitter cos I got nominated but didn't get chosen =p


apologies for the lack of grammar / sub-par english btw, im tired and cbf

[Collin Li]

Haha, well there isn't really much to lose I guess, so I wouldn't call it being 'sucked in.' It's not like you have to sit an entrance exam, so to the eyes of a student, the benefits outweigh the costs. I'm not exactly sure how entrance scores are going to work for Melbourne, so I'm not sure what this 90/95+ rule with the KLD actually entails.

[ninwa]

it goes something like:

if youre a KLD scholar (god how posh does that sound?) as long as you get 95 you'll get a CSP place at the lovely prestigious UoM. 90 for 'disadvantaged' kids which i assume means rural kids etc. damn those lucky rural kids.

[Collin Li]

Haha. The thing I don't get is, how does it even benefit the university? By lowering the entrance score, don't you just open yourself up to crappy candidates that could otherwise be filled up with higher potential candidates?

[ninwa]

there's a square in there
and a nerd as well
there are books to read
they struggle to breed
open wide
come inside
it's melbourne
fuck melbourne

=D

ahem. back on topic. well i think they're getting desperate cos so many ppl dont like the melb model and are all applying for monash instead. i read somewhere monash enrolments went up by 98% this year. this KLD thing is essentially a bribe

[Eriny]

it goes something like:

if youre a KLD scholar (god how posh does that sound?) as long as you get 95 you'll get a CSP place at the lovely prestigious UoM. 90 for 'disadvantaged' kids which i assume means rural kids etc. damn those lucky rural kids.

Because I'm from an "underrepresented" school, I only need a 90 to get in.

I think the point is to attract people with good leadership skills or who make other contributions to society and who work hard, who would do well in tertiary education but perhaps may not get the scores required to get into Melbourne. In that way, I think the rural students benefit most, especially since they're given an accommodation allowance.

[kingmar]

it goes something like:

if youre a KLD scholar (god how posh does that sound?) as long as you get 95 you'll get a CSP place at the lovely prestigious UoM. 90 for 'disadvantaged' kids which i assume means rural kids etc. damn those lucky rural kids.

Because I'm from an "underrepresented" school, I only need a 90 to get in.

I think the point is to attract people with good leadership skills or who make other contributions to society and who work hard, who would do well in tertiary education but perhaps may not get the scores required to get into Melbourne. In that way, I think the rural students benefit most, especially since they're given an accommodation allowance.

Good post.

Whereas someone like me, doesn't get shit, because I come from Melbourne, and my school's not exactly under-represented (55% UoM attendance rate sigh)

I'm not fussed about not getting KLD, because I know my ENTER *should* be sufficient to get me into Commerce easily. But for others, it is useful in helping along those that would otherwise not make it in because of the stringent results.

I don't believe they need to bribe students, either. I was going to Melbourne regardless (unless the Force leaves me), so the $2,500 bonus is just icing on the cake.