Supporting future leaders

Early entry scheme for high achievers

Imagine sitting down to your HSC exams knowing you had already been offered a place at a prestigious university? Pressure off!

Every year, thousands of high school students apply for Macquarie University’s early entry scheme, Leaders and Achievers. This popular scheme takes a holistic approach to nurturing learning potential in the pursuit of career success.

Students applying through this scheme  are assessed not only on their Year  11 marks but by how well-rounded they are in life. Have they been involved in volunteer work, social justice programs, academic competitions, sport, performing arts, youth groups? Are they leadership material: have they been a prefect, school or team captain?

“Macquarie has a fundamental belief that you are more than your ATAR [Australian Tertiary Admission Rank],” says Lee-ann Norris, Executive Director of Macquarie University’s Future Students department, which oversees the scheme.

“While an ATAR score is one of the ways to assess university suitability, there is a variety of others. The Leaders and Achievers scheme is designed to give potential students the chance to express those other characteristics as well. We are interested in the holistic journey.”

Some students, Norris says, are on track to get a good ATAR and are going to do well, no matter what. But promising students without stratospheric ATARs or with roadblocks in their lives can slip through the cracks.

“There is that category of students who have had every barrier put in their way and who are feeling unsure about whether they are going to achieve their marks. To that group we are saying: ‘We really do care about you, we understand the problems, and here’s a different way to get into the program of your choice.’

“Having an early offer in their pocket when they sit their HSC exam gives students a confidence boost - if things don’t go their way on the day, they’ve got something else as well.”

The University uses a student’s Year 11 academic results , their leadership, school involvement and extra-curricular activities when making its decisions.

Benjamin Cant, now 24 and a strategy analyst with the Woolworths Group, is something of a poster boy for the Leaders and Achievers scheme.

Cant was school captain at Asquith Boys High School, in Sydney’s northern suburbs, in the top percentile academically, involved in volleyball and football, in musicals, church and scout groups, and with the Duke of Edinburgh Award. He worked part-time in a pharmacy.

Cant researched early entry opportunities online in his final year of school and was “overjoyed” to be offered a place in Macquarie University’s Bachelor of Marketing and Media degree course.

“Smashing yourself to reach a high ATAR can generate so much anxiety,” he says. “Having an early entry offer alleviated that stress and provided a peace of mind that made Year 12 my fondest year at school. It allowed me to do more in my role as school captain and expand the scope of my visual art major work.

“During the year, there were seminars and networking events at the University with others who had received early entry and with whom I formed great friendships.”

Just as he had taken advantage of every opportunity at high school, Cant applied the same “yes” drive to university. “I did a million and one internships, worked at the Uni radio station, got involved in student groups, took a job in the Future Students office, and went on exchange programs to universities in Germany, Singapore and Korea.”

While the degree itself was key to being offered a job, Cant believes the really formative elements of his university stay were volunteering, internships and the exchange programs where, he says, “I got to apply my leadership skills and my learning, building the muscles of empathy, influencing, public speaking and problem-solving.”

What’s the benefit for the University? Says Lee-ann Norris, “We get the best students - quality students who are ready for study, well-prepared, and have skills. We want to see them stay with us, have a good time, and go on to good careers.

“With this cohort, that happens.”

Author: Susan Skelly