For hundreds of Ballarat teens, the wait for their VCE results is almost over.
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On Friday, about 1200 year 12 students, and hundreds more year 11 students who took a final year subject at Ballarat’s 11 secondary colleges, will receive their Australian Tertiary Admission Ranking.
From 7am on Friday students will be able to log in to the VTAC app or website to receive their ATAR ranking.
Nerves will be on edge at households across the city as teens log on, with many banking on a certain score to get them in to the university course they desire.
But Ballarat High School student Nick Jones is a little less anxious about his ATAR score than many of his peers.
On January 14 he is joining the Royal Australian Navy as part of the Australian Defence Force’s gap year program.
“I’m very excited but definitely the ATAR and VCE haven’t been as important to me as some of the kids going to university, but I’ve still tried my best because you never know when it might be relevant,” he said.
After his 12-month gap year with the navy, Nick said he’d be keen to stay in the service if he finds a job that he likes, or his back-up plan is to get a cadetship with Jetstar and become a pilot.
“I really want to be a pilot but I can’t fly in the air force because I’m too tall, but I’m definitely interested in a Jetstar cadetship which is for 1½ years … and there’s every chance I might find something I absolutely love in the navy.”
For the first 11 weeks Nick will undergo basic military training, before going on to a tour of the navy bases around Australia. After that he will be deployed as part of a ships’s crew as a general duty sailor.
The chance to travel and see different parts of Australia was a big factor in deciding on the navy gap year rather than one of the other services. “The navy seemed more attractive to me because you get to travel a lot and be deployed on a ship. It’s an amazing opportunity.”
Nick studied physics, visual communication, English, VET music and VET aviation, and completed further maths in year 11, which he balanced alongside playing basketball and working at Kmart.
“I didn’t really have any subject I needed to do apart from English, so I did things I enjoyed rather than subjects to get a high ATAR which is not what I needed to do,” he said.
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