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Repeat hsc? (1 Viewer)

Riproot

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I got an atar of 95 and my parents would really like me to do medicine. They are insistent upon me repeating it so I can get a higher score and get into med.
is repeating really a good idea?
Do a REALLY easy course at uni
Get a 7.0 GPA
and then transfer
win at life

also, if you got exactly 95 then you're fine for UWS if you are GWS
and fine for UNCLE/UNE
Just do well in UMAT

Gosh
 

Riproot

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First and foremost, do YOU truly want to pursue Medicine? Are you actually PASSIONATE about the course? Remember, it's YOUR choice, not your parents choice. It's YOUR career, YOUR life!

If you are truly driven to pursue Medicine, I'd recommend Advanced Science or Medical Science, obtaining an incredible GPA (6.5+) and re-sit the UMAT. Now, I know that the UMAT can be utterly horrifying, so there's always GAMSAT and other postgrad opportunities.

Repeating with such a competitive and brilliant ATAR would frankly be ludicrous!!

Follow your impulse, your instincts.. Do YOU really wish repeat? Once again, there are various other avenues for attaining a place in Medicine.

Lastly, congratulations on your ATAR! Very well done :) You should be proud.
You only need 5.5 at UWS in the Advanced Science/Advanced MedSc streams.

95 is not competitive and brilliant for med.
For med at UNCLE/UNE it is enough to pass a hurdle, and same at UWS if you are GWS, but to say it's ~competitive~ or ~brilliant~ would be wrong.

95 is a great ATAR and your parents should be very proud of you. Now to answer your question: DO NOT REPEAT.
There are many pathways that you can follow to attain your goals. Perhaps, you should sit down and ask yourself what you really want to do, what can you see yourself doing in the future? It is your life, and take full control. Don't let others drive you. There are a lot of options available, and believe me a GPA of 6.5+ is very much attainable by a 95 ATAR student. From my experience, I felt the same way last year. I really wanted to do medicine, but my ATAR was so horrible that it's embarrassing to talk about it. It was in the mid-high 80's range, and I was thinking of doing my HSC again at a different school. Yes, I went to a really crappy school (ranked 636/660 this year -.-). But I did not let my ATAR define my potential, and I put in average effort this year and attained a GPA of 6.4/7. Yes, it might not be enough for medicine, but doing a different degree has opened my eyes about other career prospects. Don't be afraid to take risks, maybe do a science degree that is more relevant to medicine. You could also do a completely irrelevant degree, and sit the UMAT. However, this wouldn't ideal if you're keen for GAMSAT.

If your parents really care about prestige, maybe consider a prestigious degree like Law/Science at UTS (you may get in with a 95 ATAR). But like others have said, it is your life. Do what you like and what you would likely succeed in. #YOLO
A 6.4 GPA is good enough for UWS, UNCLE/UNE, and UNSW (with a 95 ATAR, as UNSW is 50:50 GPA:ATAR)

If I was OP I would focus on UMAT, not redoing HSC
 

rumbleroar

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Don't be a puppet of your parents wishes, find a course you want to do. As you said, your parents want to do med. if you want to do it yourself, there are so many alternative pathways into it. It's not worth repeating.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Safraaz

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You only need 5.5 at UWS in the Advanced Science/Advanced MedSc streams.

95 is not competitive and brilliant for med.
For med at UNCLE/UNE it is enough to pass a hurdle, and same at UWS if you are GWS, but to say it's ~competitive~ or ~brilliant~ would be wrong.

A 6.4 GPA is good enough for UWS, UNCLE/UNE, and UNSW (with a 95 ATAR, as UNSW is 50:50 GPA:ATAR)

If I was OP I would focus on UMAT, not redoing HSC
Umat halted my plans this year :(
I perhaps should give it a shot again next year!
Regardless, medicine is highly competitive and not meant for everyone.
 

BLIT2014

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Wouldn't repeat, always a danger of doing worse and that would be a big waste of a year
 

lawsonung

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Life's too short to do something you don't actually want to do.

Medicine is extremely demanding and many medical students and doctors will experience work and study fatigue. But the most brilliant doctors are those who find ways to battle past these normal lulls and are able to remain committed to what they are passionate about: looking after other people. It's not a lifestyle meant for all, and there will be sacrifices involved that may not be there in other professions.

But if you do really want to do medicine, having an ATAR of 95 is no barrier... If you perform well, for example, in your first year uni and re-sit UMAT then many options will be open to you. I find that most people who really really want to do medicine a) get in; and b) are those who you want to be your doctor, because they'd have tried so hard. My friend has just finished her engineering/architecture degree at USYD and decided to do medicine and recently got into UTas (UWS/UNCLE results pending), so it's definitely achievable!

In short, I know that 95 may have been a disappointment but there are plenty of pathways in life. Not everyone must choose to travel the same one.
 

iJimmy

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don't repeat especially if you still have a 95 atar, get into a medical related course and transfer
 

Leffife

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No offense, but your parents are naive. If you want to do Medicine, you got a hell lot of other options to enter. You can do Medical Science or Science Advance, and then if done well you can do post grad. The other alternative is do the UMAT again and do much better. What ever option you choose just make sure it is NOT to repeat.
 

iJimmy

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Yea you should do Bsc adv . major medicinal chemistry, neuroscience, physiology, anatomy... and try transfer to med.
 

oasfree

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I got an atar of 95 and my parents would really like me to do medicine. They are insistent upon me repeating it so I can get a higher score and get into med.
is repeating really a good idea?
If you have worked hard for 95 and had tutoring to get it, forget the idea of repeating. You are unlikely to do better. You must understand that if you get 99.00 you would unlikely be able to get into medicine with ATAR alone.

If you did not work so hard and did not have tutoring to get 95, you will get higher ATAR by repeating provided that you have determination. You should change to a different school to make sure no one knows you and avoid the stigma of repeating.

The idea of doing something else and transfer is a pretty bad idea for 99% of the cases because at University it is harder and with lots of distractions (beer, drug, free time, lack of supervision, hormones, parties, ...) so students are likely to perform poorer rather than better. Therefore students tend to struggle. Those who needed tutoring to get to HSC will fall big time below those who were laid-back and still got similar ATAR. At Uni, those who were balanced, self-learners and doing lots of extra curriculum stuff ... will thrive and they will be the ones who are successful in getting transfers to the higher courses. The competition will be a lot tougher to get a transfer.

Nothing is easy but you can take a longer road. Finish your first degree with high quality, do interesting things then apply for medicine later at a mature age. A few years is a very short time if one has support from parents. If you are on your own and have to scrape at a crappy job to get a living then it is long! A longer road it is but you still get there. The problem is that parents always worry that you will lose heart. And if a student needed all the tutoring to get 95 ATAR then his/her parents would be really worry that s/he will lose the heart so they want to push to repeat and get another dose of tutoring hoping that the kid can get 99.95.
 

moocow920

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Try to convince them out of it, there's no garuntee you will do better, and even if you do better who says it will be good enough for med? Try transfer or postgrad
 

Leffife

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Try to convince them out of it, there's no garuntee you will do better, and even if you do better who says it will be good enough for med? Try transfer or postgrad
No need to convince them. He must just decide to not repeat, his parents should never dictate his life choices. Parents are there generally to guide their children, so if they are naive just ignore them. They don't own him after all.
 

moocow920

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No need to convince them. He must just decide to not repeat, his parents should never dictate his life choices. Parents are there generally to guide their children, so if they are naive just ignore them. They don't own him after all.
You obviously don't have awfully strict parents. It's not that easy for some people, sure they can't force you to go to school every day or to do well, but they can make your life bad enough that it's not worth it.
 

unforlornedhope

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You obviously don't have awfully strict parents. It's not that easy for some people, sure they can't force you to go to school every day or to do well, but they can make your life bad enough that it's not worth it.
I agree. Leffie might not have awfully strict parents. It is very HARD NOT to let awfully strict parents not dictate what you do. Sometimes they will NOT understand your decision and want you to go by their way. And trust me, it is very difficult and takes hell lot of effort to persuade them.
 

unforlornedhope

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If you have worked hard for 95 and had tutoring to get it, forget the idea of repeating. You are unlikely to do better. You must understand that if you get 99.00 you would unlikely be able to get into medicine with ATAR alone.

If you did not work so hard and did not have tutoring to get 95, you will get higher ATAR by repeating provided that you have determination. You should change to a different school to make sure no one knows you and avoid the stigma of repeating.

The idea of doing something else and transfer is a pretty bad idea for 99% of the cases because at University it is harder and with lots of distractions (beer, drug, free time, lack of supervision, hormones, parties, ...) so students are likely to perform poorer rather than better. Therefore students tend to struggle. Those who needed tutoring to get to HSC will fall big time below those who were laid-back and still got similar ATAR. At Uni, those who were balanced, self-learners and doing lots of extra curriculum stuff ... will thrive and they will be the ones who are successful in getting transfers to the higher courses. The competition will be a lot tougher to get a transfer.

Nothing is easy but you can take a longer road. Finish your first degree with high quality, do interesting things then apply for medicine later at a mature age. A few years is a very short time if one has support from parents. If you are on your own and have to scrape at a crappy job to get a living then it is long! A longer road it is but you still get there. The problem is that parents always worry that you will lose heart. And if a student needed all the tutoring to get 95 ATAR then his/her parents would be really worry that s/he will lose the heart so they want to push to repeat and get another dose of tutoring hoping that the kid can get 99.95.
This.
If you did not work hard and still manage a 95, then you obviously have potential to do well the second time around. Whereas if 95 was your best effort, then please forgo the idea of repeating.

Transferring at university is Highly competitive, you're not the only one who thinks of transferring. There are many, many out there who are a few marks or decimals behind the cut off and are also in the same position like you to fight for the few places available. Plus university is harder and it is easier to get distracted and loose hope in what you do. This girl from my school who had an ATAR of 68 did arts at UWS, she was adamant to do well and transfer to USYD arts the following year. And guess what? By 2nd year when I asked her what she's currently doing, she's still in UWS arts and has already CBF to study and even think of transferring and said that she doesn't even care about her academic results anymore.
 

Leffife

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You obviously don't have awfully strict parents. It's not that easy for some people, sure they can't force you to go to school every day or to do well, but they can make your life bad enough that it's not worth it.
Lol, what could really strict parents do? They can't attack you, well if they do then fight them back. It is your dreams, not theirs. You are totally wrong, it is worth it because you will be putting the effort - not them. Either way, you are probably 17 or 18 years old. You are old enough to make your own decisions.

I agree. Leffie might not have awfully strict parents. It is very HARD NOT to let awfully strict parents not dictate what you do. Sometimes they will NOT understand your decision and want you to go by their way. And trust me, it is very difficult and takes hell lot of effort to persuade them.
You're a sheep then. They want you to go by their way, so WHAT? It's your body, your future, your decision. I wouldn't even bother to persuade someone who is single-minded. Just simply don't listen to them.
 

moocow920

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Lol, what could really strict parents do? They can't attack you, well if they do then fight them back. It is your dreams, not theirs. You are totally wrong, it is worth it because you will be putting the effort - not them. Either way, you are probably 17 or 18 years old. You are old enough to make your own decisions.



You're a sheep then. They want you to go by their way, so WHAT? It's your body, your future, your decision. I wouldn't even bother to persuade someone who is single-minded. Just simply don't listen to them.

They can cut off all financial and other support, forcing you to attempt to move out straight out of high school, pay for all the costs associated with uni, an aprtment or something, food, bills, all on your own, 'disown' you from the family, etc etc. I wouldn't expect someone clearly in your more priceless situation to understand but it's not as easy as just 'not being a sheep' for everyone.
 

unforlornedhope

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You're a sheep then. They want you to go by their way, so WHAT? It's your body, your future, your decision. I wouldn't even bother to persuade someone who is single-minded. Just simply don't listen to them.

They can cut off all financial and other support, forcing you to attempt to move out straight out of high school, pay for all the costs associated with uni, an aprtment or something, food, bills, all on your own, 'disown' you from the family, etc etc. I wouldn't expect someone clearly in your more priceless situation to understand but it's not as easy as just 'not being a sheep' for everyone.
No one here is being a sheep. It's not as easy as you think lol.
 

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