Questions About Co Op scholarship / scholarships in general ... (1 Viewer)

Lil Pump

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It might be a bit to late now to ask about scholarships, but our school has said jack-all about scholarships and i don't even know where to start.... :( Before I visit my school carrer adviser (hopefully thats helpul! I want to ask you guys (especially those who have recieved the schoalrship/ know someone who has receieved the scholarship) What exactly are they looking for ? Acacdemics? Extra curricullar? => if so whats sort of extra curricular? Sport? (but at what level of sports really matter? just a local club? State level? reps?) I don'r really know what sort of extra curricular activties make an individual stand out... :/ Any help/ info would be appreciated :D Thanks in adnvance
 

pikachu975

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It might be a bit to late now to ask about scholarships, but our school has said jack-all about scholarships and i don't even know where to start.... :( Before I visit my school carrer adviser (hopefully thats helpul! I want to ask you guys (especially those who have recieved the schoalrship/ know someone who has receieved the scholarship) What exactly are they looking for ? Acacdemics? Extra curricullar? => if so whats sort of extra curricular? Sport? (but at what level of sports really matter? just a local club? State level? reps?) I don'r really know what sort of extra curricular activties make an individual stand out... :/ Any help/ info would be appreciated :D Thanks in adnvance
I didn't get into co-op but I got interviews for both UNSW and MQ actuarial so I'll give some advice I guess? They are looking for all rounded people - not only academics BUT they wanna see you're expecting a 96+ ATAR for co-op (or 98+ for actuarial co-op).

The type of extracurricular doesn't matter it's just how you word it in interviews and what you learnt from these experiences. To be honest you can build water taps in Africa and someone who volunteers after school for something can still beat you if they're better at wording stuff in the interview and also if they stand out more in the interview due to stuff including their confidence, passion and communication.
 

pikachu975

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wow thanks alot, gave me some good insight!
I didn't get in from interview because I was rly nervous in the interview as I had nothing to talk about, but I still ended up as 7th in MQ co-op with 6 people being accepted so I guess I'm happy with that.
 

tklawl

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I'm currently doing the IT co-op at UTS.

It depends on what co-op you're applying for though. If you're applying for the IT co-op, the expectation is that you're passionate about IT... so participate in coding competitions when you get the chance, open-source coding events (Google Code-in is GREAT), join computer science clubs, teach others to program, participate in uni-run computer science events, volunteer every now and then, etc.

On top of that, (with my interviewers) they were quite interested in what I did beyond all of that - I spoke about my casual hobby of bike riding.

They also appreciate highly academic students, but that is not an absolute requirement (as long as you meet the defined minimum ATAR requirement). :)

It's about trying to get through the application stage and into the interview stage (where you'll have to talk your butt off :) )

Good luck.
 

30june2016

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It might be a bit to late now to ask about scholarships, but our school has said jack-all about scholarships and i don't even know where to start.... :( Before I visit my school carrer adviser (hopefully thats helpul! I want to ask you guys (especially those who have recieved the schoalrship/ know someone who has receieved the scholarship) What exactly are they looking for ? Acacdemics? Extra curricullar? => if so whats sort of extra curricular? Sport? (but at what level of sports really matter? just a local club? State level? reps?) I don'r really know what sort of extra curricular activties make an individual stand out... :/ Any help/ info would be appreciated :D Thanks in adnvance
This is my personal opinion but I feel like most co-op scholarships want to get to know you as an individual (i.e. what kind of person you are, what is your personality etc). So you should probably talk about or include extracurricular activities that can showcase your leadership skills, your team work skills, your ability to take initiative, time management, perseverance, and your reaction to pressure. But of course, as tklawl mentioned, it would be pretty good if you manage to participate in activities that are related to the course you are trying to get a scholarship for - this shows interest/passion, and if you actually are interested in your desired course, there should be no problems or anything stopping you from doing related activities.

I received offers for UTS BIT/WiEIT co-op scholarships and UNSW BIS/CIS co-op scholarships (except my ATAR was too low, but that's ok, still got an offer) and these were my extracurricular activities: St John First Aid Cadets, Girls Programming Network, charity work/volunteering, and I talked about a few conferences/activities I went to that were about technology/programming. I also managed to talk about stuff I did at school that was related to tech. NOTE: I wasn't prefect/never held any official leadership role at school so what I did instead was talk about leadership experience in group work and extracurricular activities.

As for academics, it depends on the scholarship. For example, UNSW has a firm requirement of 96+ ATAR (as merely a threshold, so it doesn't matter what you get as long as it is above 96) for their co-op programs, whilst UTS and their co-op program is a comfortable 85+ ATAR requirement. However, other scholarships may further scrutinise your academics to gauge your drive and the consistency of your work ethic, so your school assessment rankings etc may play a heavy role in determining if you get into the interview stage or not. My academics were sub par - I only held high rankings for 1 or 2 subjects which is probably why I got rejected for interviews for other scholarships as they were searching for higher academic standards.


Also --> for those cadetships/scholarships that require you to take online assessments - tip: choose the ones that show you taking initiative, they're usually the answers they're looking for.

Good luck !! Don't stress, just let the interviewers/application reviewers know you as a person, and not just by the stuff you do.
 

Katsumi

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I studied the UTS IT co-op scholarship for a year and followed to be selected for a traineeship with a Big 4 commercial bank.

Focus on extracurriculars that are based on your field and/or demonstrate leadership potential. Begin practicing your interview skills & researching your industry now. If possible, apply for national awards (i won the Australian Vocational Student Prize and Rotary International Youth Award which aided my competitiveness). Try to gain experience in your field but dont forgo your academic results as most selection is based on (academics + interview score) / 2
 

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