THE wait is over for prospective university students across the region, with Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks (ATARs) released at 9am yesterday.
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While most university offers are yet to be made, the ATARs give students an idea of how they will fare getting into their desired course.
The ATAR is a measure of academic achievement in relation to other students and is used by tertiary education institutions to determine entry.
Nick Hamilton, Callum McKinnon, Jessica Weaver, and Kahla and Dylan May were among the Oxley High students who breathed a sigh of relief yesterday.
“It was good. Once you found out the result it was like a big weight was lifted off your shoulders,” Kahla said.
Nick received the school’s highest ATAR at 96.3, which should gain him entry into medicine at either the University of Newcastle or the University of NSW.
Jessica received an ATAR of 92.9 and plans to go to the University of New England to study teaching and mathematics after a gap year.
An ATAR of 74.5 was a pleasing result for Callum, who wants to study engineering at either the University of Newcastle or University of Wollongong.
Kahla – who scored the highest mark in the region in textiles and design – received an ATAR of 82.75, which she said would get her into primary school teaching at the University of Newcastle, while twin brother Dylan plans to study business and commerce at the same university after achieving an ATAR of 75.3.
Calrossy Anglican School students Jean Littlewood, Catherine McCullogh, Lily Barnett and Sam Chiswell were also pleased with their results
Jean said it was a suspenseful wait for her ATAR, with Catherine adding that even though they’d received their HSC results the previous day, the ATAR could have scaled differently.
But all students said they were able to relax now both HSC results and ATARs were out.
Jean and Sam, who both hope to study medicine at the University of NSW, received ATARs of 96.65 and 96.2 respectively.
Lily got an ATAR of 90.6 and plans to study biodiversity and conservation at Macquarie University.
Macquarie University is also on the cards for Catherine, who received 94.95 and wants to enter political journalism.
They thanked their teachers for their support in their studies.
Deputy principal Mark Doran said it was good to see the diligence of this year’s group pay off in the ATARs.
“It’s the product of a lot of hard work for many of them, so it’s well-deserved,” Mr Doran said.
Among Farrer’s high achievers was Mitchell McLeod, who was happy with his ATAR of 96.8 and plans to study a double degree of science and engineering at the University of Newcastle.
One of the highest ATARs in the region was 99.3, received by PLC Armidale student Susannah Brown.
Susannah was named on the Board of Studies’ All-Round Achievers List for scoring the highest band possible in at least 10 units of study in the HSC.
Duval High School student Madeleine Ryan, another all-rounder, received 96.3.
The Armidale School (TAS) also had all-round achievers – James Mohun, who received an ATAR of 98.35 and was named dux of the school, and James Scifleet, with an ATAR of 96.55.
Deputy senior prefect Tom Wyatt and Josh Taylor rounded out those TAS students who reached above 96, with 97.5 and 96.45 respectively.
The highest-possible ATAR was 99.95, achieved by 48 students across the state.
