Claire Pech – Careers Advisor

Early offers – what is all the fuss about?

● The new Universities Accord has puts the early offer process in writing, but the practice came in last year, where the early offers for University were given towards the end of the year (ie September). Most of the Universities were doing this anyway, (especially the big ones our school would be utilising – like Australian National University (ANU), University Technology Sydney (UTS) and Macquarie University, who all release places in September.
● The private colleges were more likely to offer places earlier in the year, but only a handful of places did and generally these were used as a back-up plan.
● UNSW and Sydney University do not provide early offers, the way the others do (only for low socio-economic status) so those carrots are kept motivating students right until the end – and this influences our strategy a lot with UAC.
● I see the early offer process, as a positive because a lot of students talk about the pressure, stresses and worries and mental health fall-out regularly with me. I do think looking at student wellbeing is equally as important as looking at students’ results.
● 99% of the students I speak with, say the early offers maks them less stressed, and as a result they are able to work more effectively. Even if they don’t intend to use that University place – it can have a very powerful benefit on motivation, on self-esteem and in some cases on directions and options.
● Also more and more universities are now opening up varied pathways of access. (UNSW only last week have now opened up their recognised TAFE to University pathway, a first for them. UTS already has this pathway set in stone and other ways to get in are on the table including leadership, extra curricular or portfolio access).
● In trying to look into this more and really find out what the data tells us, I have surveyed a wider group. I already have data and opinions from Career Advisors from about 70 schools’ across NSW. I am also partnering with StudyWorkGrow to look into the wider ramifications of this and to see what some of the fallouts and benefits are, and we are starting to gather data from past students, to see what they see as the benefits and challenges of this system. Watch this space!

You can read more about early entry here: Early Entry – Quick Facts Guide

Notices, events, dates

• Year 12 parents
  UAC ran a webinar for Year 12 parents last week. Even though there was some technical issues, they recorded it after the event, with clear recording and here is the webinar. It is very well explained and will help any parent, especially those who have not been at school in NSW, like myself. It also explains the HSC, the ATAR, how it is calculated (position vs performance) and other myths. Other UAC webinars will be run through the year. You can access them here.
• Sydney University run a webinar program for Term 2 which is well worth attending to find out more about Medicine, Law, Economics, Science, Engineering and University in general. These sessions are run after school sometimes between 4.00 pm and 5.00 pm, and sometimes later in the evening. Click on this link below to find out more about your area of interest. The Term 2 schedule is now online and can be found here.
• Females in industry
  Are you female and interested in the following areas:
  • Architecture
  • Construction Management
  • Engineering
  • Project Management
    Multiplex are running workshops between 4.00 pm- 6.00 pm. Register here