is it an advantage to go to a selective school?

[depressedchild]

even if you do badly on your exam and sacs, you would still get a good score cause you go to a selective school right? Is it true that anyone who attends Macrob, JMSS, Melbourne High all get atars above 90?

[appianway]

Not everyone in my Mac.Rob cohort scored above 90. Most did. Selective schools help some people, but it's not a thing with the system - it's more that students are pushed by other students in their cohort. If you're surrounded by people who write eloquently, you're likely to pick up something from them. If all of your friends are star mathematicians, you're going to ask them for maths help.

Mac.Rob pushed me in ways that would have been impossible at an ordinary school, but as for my ATAR, who knows what it would have been otherwise. The dux of my old school scored 99.95 as well - maybe I still would've scored a perfect ATAR, maybe not. But at the end of the day ATAR isn't everything.

[Chromeo33]

Its really all talk. I go to Melbourne High and it really is up to the student. Trust me, not everyone at my school is GUARANTEED a good ATAR simply cos they go to a good school. I know my fair share of students who bludge away year 12 at my school.

[mattshen]

so true...in the end it all comes down to the student not the school.

[Russ]

I chose not to go to MHS and I don't think that my final results in year 12 were significantly different to what they would have been (even if they were higher, it wouldn't have mattered). Granted I was already at a school with good facilities, but the cohort certainly contained students uninterested in doing their best and people coasting, so it wasn't a high pressure situation.

[Eriny]

I don't have any experience with selective schools, but high pressure really does affect different people in different ways. Some people probably find the atmosphere too intense/stressful, others probably thrive off that kind of thing.

[MeLucky]

The environment of the school I believe plays a role in how well you do as well.
Generally, there's more pressure to do well in a selective school as compared to a non-selective school. The student collective mindset in a selective school, for example may be that getting 90% on SACS is considered generally bad. Whereas in a non-selective school, for example my school, the usual thing you hear when a class gets their SACS back is 'woo, I got 40% and passed! Hi-5 guys!'

[playsimme]

It isn't all about the glory of selective schools, give others who work hard credit