Ben Parker

Kirrawee student Ben Parker took the stress out of the HSC through the University of Wollongong’s Early Entry program.

Stress-free HSCs run in the family

The Higher School Certificate is often accused of putting undue pressure on students, but Kirrawee’s Ben Parker had a home-grown example of how to bypass stress when he sat for his HSC last year.

Three years earlier his sister Melanie had been granted Early Entry to the University of Wollongong, meaning that she was granted a place in the course of her choice before the HSC – taking the stress factor right out of the exams.

Ben liked the idea, especially as the degree he was interested in – a Bachelor of Mathematics and Finance – is part of UOW’s Early Entry program.

UOW’S Early entry program is designed to take the stress out of the HSC Applicants learn if they have been successful about three weeks before the HSC – considerably reducing stress levels.

“I knew all about Wollongong’s Early Entry program from my sister’s experience, and also from friends who had applied,” Ben said. “I was also familiar with the University and the Bachelor of Mathematics and Finance was my first choice degree, so it made sense to go for Early Entry.

“Knowing I had a guaranteed place at Uni certainly reduced the stress of the HSC. It meant I could focus on the subjects like Maths that I would be doing at Uni.”

Ben said the “nice easy drive” from Kirrawee to the University of Wollongong had been an added attraction to studying at UOW. As a bonus, he also does some of his subjects at UOW’s Loftus Education Centre, cutting his travel time to 10 minutes on some days.

“Studying at Loftus is great. The classes are small and you get really good personal attention from the lecturers,” he said.

Ben hopes his degree will lead to a range of career possibilities, including options trading and stock-broking.

“I went to a UOW information night when I was in Year 12, and was impressed by a graduate from this course who spoke about how he’d been chosen from 700 applicants for an options trading position,” Ben said. “Two years after graduating he was earning $180,000.”

Early Entry is open to all Year 12 HSC students and is not only geared towards gifted students. The program assesses students’ suitability for university based on your trial HSC results, portfolio and an interview. You will be offered either a guaranteed place or a place that is conditional upon your achieving a certain result in the final HSC exams. As identified by statistical analysis of Informatics students, Early Entry students generally obtain a greater UAI than students with no Early Entry Offer. Also once at UOW, these students achieve a greater average mark overall AND generally achieve better results in their subjects.

Early Entry is available at UOW through the Faculty of Informatics which delivers degrees in Maths, IT, Computer Science, Electrical, Computer & Telecommunication Engineering. Early Entry is also offered in the Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Science and some degrees in the Faculty of Health & Behavioural Sciences.

To find out more about the UOW Early Entry program and its requirements visit the website www.uow.edu.au/prospective/early_entry.html or phone 1300 367869.