Got an ATAR of 54, what is the best alternative to get into uni? (1 Viewer)

seilk5

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In Sydney, and I don't want to go to Tasmania and do a Arts then transfer or something like that. I also don't have much money... I really want to do a bachelor in Economics at either Western Syd or Macquarie but my ATAR of 54 isn't high enough. Should I go through TAFE? Do the non-award program at Macquarie? Foundation/diploma in Western Syd? What's the most fastest and cheapest (in other words, the best) alternative into getting into university with an ATAR of 54?
 

erob

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ACU or Latrobe have low cutoffs. ACU is in Sydney (North Sydney and Strathfield campus) and Latrobe is in Albury/Wodonga.
 

hayabusaboston

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In Sydney, and I don't want to go to Tasmania and do a Arts then transfer or something like that. I also don't have much money... I really want to do a bachelor in Economics at either Western Syd or Macquarie but my ATAR of 54 isn't high enough. Should I go through TAFE? Do the non-award program at Macquarie? Foundation/diploma in Western Syd? What's the most fastest and cheapest (in other words, the best) alternative into getting into university with an ATAR of 54?

um, no offence, but is there any uni that has any course that you can do with a 54 ATAR?
 

cpwincess19

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uws college :) do a diploma course and if you pass then you get direct entry into second year of your course at uws university. Search it up! GOOD LUCK XX
 

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i'd advise studying at tafe for a year (to Cert IV) and transferring - you only need passes to get into UWS and tafe is extremely cheap if you're receiving youth allowance from centrelink.

one of my friends said he applied to UWS after cert III(accounting) and was able to get in. my uai was around the 50s as well and I studied an advanced diploma of accounting. I'll be studying B Commerce at usyd this year.

I'm not sure if you can get into macquarie with Cert IV though, but you should be able to get in with a diploma assuming you have credit average. all other unis require diploma or advanced diploma with distinction average.

hope that helped.
 
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If you can travel to the central coast or newcastle, you could look into the Newstep Program run by Newcastle Uni. It's like a foundation year. I did the mature age students version (Open Foundation) last year, and I got marks good enough that I've been admitted to B Science @ UNSW this year. Basically you take this year long course, and you get another chance with another ATAR with the results you get from the work you do. This program is sponsored by the government, so you don't pay for anything apart from any textbooks you might need. I never see this course mentioned around here, so not sure if people know it exists *shrugs*

http://www.newcastle.edu.au/students/foundation-studies/newstep/
 

EpikHigh

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Why nod just do non-award at Macq? I know someone doing it, seems good you just gotta make sure you do well though.
 

seilk5

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i'd advise studying at tafe for a year (to Cert IV) and transferring - you only need passes to get into UWS and tafe is extremely cheap if you're receiving youth allowance from centrelink.

one of my friends said he applied to UWS after cert III(accounting) and was able to get in. my uai was around the 50s as well and I studied an advanced diploma of accounting. I'll be studying B Commerce at usyd this year.

I'm not sure if you can get into macquarie with Cert IV though, but you should be able to get in with a diploma assuming you have credit average. all other unis require diploma or advanced diploma with distinction average.

hope that helped.
What TAFE course would help me to, say do Economics at USyd? If it's not possible then I want to just study Economics at Macquarie preferably. Would I be able to get a diploma in accounting then transfer to economics? Or is there another diploma course related to economics?
 

seilk5

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Why nod just do non-award at Macq? I know someone doing it, seems good you just gotta make sure you do well though.
It's around $8k upfront fee (not supported by HECS) which my parents won't pay and I have saved up essentially no money. Unless I can convince them otherwise, I don't think I can.
 

Azure

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If you're keen on Macquarie, you might want to give this a once over: http://www.sibt.nsw.edu.au/

You'll need to check your eligibility as I'm not 100% sure about the specifics.
 

mnmaa

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Repeat and study extremely hard this time. Aim for 90 that way if you miss you'll still hit 75, which will give you a substantial number of opportunities in terms of courses you may be admitted too.
90 is a very big jump from 54 but as the saying goes "Aim for the stars,even if you miss, you'll land on the moon"
 

DforDANNY

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I'm pretty sure a 54ATAR will get you into B Bus/Com / B Eco @ UWS in the late round...
 

phuong14

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my friend got 52 atar and got into a uws course that required 68. so give uws a try.
 

declanbehan

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oh man so many judgemental fuckwits like hayabusabosto "oh em gee can you like, totally, like get into a course with that? omg"
Seriously, there's way more to life than school and a fucking ATAR score which people judge you by, grow up and realise that school isn't everything.
 

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What TAFE course would help me to, say do Economics at USyd? If it's not possible then I want to just study Economics at Macquarie preferably. Would I be able to get a diploma in accounting then transfer to economics? Or is there another diploma course related to economics?
I'm not 100% sure - try calling macquarie or if that doesn't work, ask a tafe student adviser.

an accounting diploma or possibly CertIV should get you into BEc at macquarie (I'd advise calling macquarie to be sure) but I'm unsure if you'll get any credit exemptions. If there are core accounting subjects in economics, you should receive exemptions for those. do note that usually it takes a year and a half to complete a diploma (Cert 3->Cert 4-> Diploma), with each cert/dip taking half a year to complete.

also, you have to get credit average marks to be considered by macquarie. this is roughly 70% in each subject. accounting isn't very hard - just make sure you understand the concepts early on, e.g debits and credits, what is an asset, liability, expense, income and most subjects should be easy then on.

if memory serves me right, you'll learn basic accounting, financial accounting, management accounting, accounting software, some theoretical subjects such as learning how to work with people, communicating(very bludgy), business and company law, internal control(security in accounting), financial management in diploma(a bit hard if you're not very mathematically inclined, but I was able to get a distinction for it and I only studied general maths - make sure you do ALL the questions, go through everything that's relevant), and income tax.. quite a hard subject. depends on what tafe you go to but at ultimo it was probably 30-40% fail.
 

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