High School Success Story #1: K888

In this article series, forum member keltingmeith will interview a range of recent high school graduates. We’ll look at a wide selection of VCE journeys and career trajectories, to see how recent graduates have coped with life after VCE.

In this first instalment, interviewer keltingmeith is speaking with fellow forum member, K888.

Q. So, K888. Tell me a bit about yourself.

I mean, that’s really broad! Can you go for something less vague?

Q. Hahah, sure. What course do you study and what year?

Physiotherapy at Monash, doing first year.

Q. And why did you pick that course?

I don’t know why, but I’ve always wanted to be a physio. I’m really passionate about helping people, as cliché as that sounds. Normally I could go on and on about how I want to be a physio – I don’t know why I’m at a loss for words!

I think it can be really rewarding helping people with their quality of life.

Read K888’s complete guide to studying Physiotherapy here!

Q. What led you to taking Physio at Monash, and what thoughts were going through your mind in Year 12?

Partly due to location. I went to Open Day at La Trobe (Bundoora), and it was really out of the way for me. Also, my brother/sister-in-law live near Frankston, and I wanted to see them more; I really like the Peninsula location.

I like the course structure, as well. I would have gone to CSU, but Albury is just too far away. I wanted to be a bit closer to the city.

I also got an offer to study at ACU in North Sydney, but wanted to stay in Melbourne.

I feel like I was slightly different, because I was always drawn to physiotherapy. So every plan I made was to do with me being able to study Physio. I applied to every course I could get into within Victoria and New South Wales. Potentially it was because I did work experience at my local hospital near. I thought it was pretty rad – I really enjoyed it.

Q. What subjects did you do in Year 12, and why?

I studied English, Chemistry, Biology, Methods, French, and Revs.

Revs was the 3/4 I did in Year 11. I loved the subject, and picked it out of interest.

At my school, if you wanted to accelerate, they gave us a list of all the subjects we could do. Out of all of them, that was the one I wanted to do the most. I always enjoyed history in high school – a little bit different to everything else I did.

For Chem and Bio, I always enjoyed science. Particularly Bio. Combined with Chem, it covered every possible pre-req I thought I’d run into when applying for courses I was interested in.

English: I was good at it, so it came naturally to me. I thought about Lit, but I didn’t want to read all throughout the year, and felt I wasn’t creative enough. I also really enjoyed Text Response, and felt I didn’t want to lose it – so that completely put English Language off the table.

Methods was my biggest regret of the subjects. I picked it mostly because I didn’t want to do Further, but wanted to do maths. I was reasonably decent at maths – really good at it in primary school – but dropped off in Year 11. I found out in Year 12 I didn’t need it, so it really wasn’t prioritised.

As for French, I wanted to keep on studying a language. I was good at it, and it was really different to all my other subjects, which was nice.

Find all of K888’s VCE French writing and oral exam resources here!

Q. You say you really dropped off in Methods. Do you feel it ended up being a waste?

Yes and no. I loved my teacher, and had really good friends in my class. I didn’t mind it – I enjoyed going, and it was good to challenge my brain.

In the end, it contributed a few points to my ATAR, and that adds up. But I’m glad I didn’t stress about it, because what’s the point? In hindsight, I may not do it if I were to repeat, but maybe I would’ve put more effort into it.

I’m still a big fan of doing maths all throughout high school, though. And in the end, can I really have regrets? The choices I made got me into my course.

Q. How many hours a week did you spend studying, socialising etc.?

Good question.

I didn’t really study a concrete number of hours during Year 12, because I had a lot of other things going on. I feel like I did half an hour each night. But sometimes I didn’t do any, and sometimes I did like three hours if coming up to a SAC or something.

My grandma died in May – Term 2? Then I had another problem, and struggled to sit down for long periods of time. A lot of it was pain management, and I felt I had enough self-pity to not bother at times.

I did a lot of sports, and a part-time job I worked on Saturdays. I didn’t really go to 18ths – not a party person.

But yeah, I had a lot going on, so I didn’t feel I had to study without merit.

Q. Would you call yourself a high school success story?

I reckon I would.

The vibe, the year. That’s the big point – to actually just get through the year. Just getting through the year was massive for me. And then when I got my results, that was phenomenal, because I was not expecting the results that I got. I felt very vindicated for the struggles I went through – finally something was going right. That was a really proud moment.

But at the same time, your results don’t define you. So I feel like everyone can be a high school success story if you’re happy at the end of the day. I kept up my friendships, I appreciated my teachers, I enjoyed school for the most part.

I don’t know why I would jump straight to my results defining my success. Getting through the year was a big thing for me.

Q. And finally, if you remember it, what was your ATAR?

97.05.

Have questions about VTAC preferences? Jump onto this thread and get them answered!