IndieG

My God, and I thought this happened only in India :scared:

My nephew just got his high school (year 12) results - his score was 98.5 We spoke to him today - and he says he is not sure if he will get into Medicine at the University of Melbourne - he thinks he might get into Monash, because he had done very well at the interview.

Apparently there were 32 children who scored 99.95 - the highest possible score

And I thought there wouldn't be so much pressure in Australia

jad n rich

Theres loads of pressure if your child wants to go to a university in the city, its like everything here, everyone wants to live work study in the same few spots.

EG we noticed the university in North qld had much lower course requiremtents for exactly the same courses than brisbane, and the kids who did get into brisbane had far higher marks than the course requirements. Many courses are oversubscribed by thousands for a few hundred places. Its to do with money too, if your child is going to a uni a few hundred or thousand klms away it they cant travel they need accom, car too, adding to the uni fees. You also have a lot of places reserved for asian students who are required to pay, in fact Howard just upped that, funding again.

Parents are aware of all this and the top schools in melb and syd etc where fees are :scared: have waiting lists since birth and a lot of 'who one knows and who one is '

IndieG

Thanks Jad.

Isn't that discriminating ? Why are seats reserved for Asian students? Why can't they keep it open for ALL fee paying students?

I thought that to get into the top schools you just went through an entrance exam? My nephew passed out of Melbourne High School, where he was admitted on the basis of his entrance scores.

Pity, putting children through so much pressure.

Kassy

NickyC

If Victoria is like NSW, then most unis offer some places to overseas students (who are charged higher fees). These overseas places are not just for Asian students (any overseas students can apply) - it's just that the majority of overseas students happen to come from Asia.

Not all private schools have entrance exams. Some are selective and some are not.

Alan Collett

The Year 12 examination system in Victoria is a competitive environment in which all students are given an ENTER score. I believe (am not certain) that the top .05% of students have an ENTER score of 99.95. The next 0.05% score 99.90 etc ...

What are considered "harder" courses of study based on the annual cohort of students during that school year are weighted more heavily in determining the student's ENTER score => a mark of 34 out of 50 in the Year 12 Latin exam will probably contribute towards a higher ENTER score than (say) the same mark in (say) Drama.

In the case of the highly in demand courses (eg Medicine at Melbourne Uni) the Uni's then select on the basis of the ENTER score.

Best regards.