BRIGHT sparks can breathe a sigh of relief with a university offer ahead of the HSC.
Merewether High School captains Sam Bloomfield and Amy De Malmanche are among 8000 students to be offered a spot in the University of Newcastle's (UoN) new Early Entry program.
Securing a spot in a law and psychological science degree, Amy said she was grateful for the option to stay close to home.
"There are lots of people who are very passionate, and we have a lot of friends who really know what they want to do, but in the HSC under pressure they may not quite perform - so you're really missing out on a super talented cohort," she said.
"Whereas by looking at all of our Year 11 marks, you get a much more cohesive view, so I think it really benefits the university and its cohort as well."
The program allows Year 12 students from NSW and the ACT to receive an early offer based on their Year 11 results, and is contingent on finishing the HSC.
About half of UoN's students came directly from high school and vice-chancellor professor Alex Zelinsky said he wanted them to be focused on achieving the best result they could in their end of school exams.
"We worked closely with teachers when we were developing our program to create a sector-leading package for students so that when they applied for early entry, they were able to access support like student mentors, HSC tips and webinars, past exam papers and invitations to VIP UoN events to help them feel supported during Year 12," he said.
"We wish everyone who is about to complete their HSC the best of luck during these final weeks before exams begin on October 11."
The most popular programs among future university students were law, physiotherapy, nursing, business and biomedical science.
Among those is Sam, who received his first preference of a Bachelor of Physiotherapy and is ready for the next step.
"It's equal amounts exciting and scary," he said.
"It's been a long six years, both Amy and I have been here all of our high school life and it's been incredible, we love Merewether, but you sort of reach a point in Year 12 where you can feel that you're ready.
"Of course I'm going to bawl my eyes out when we graduate but I'm still really excited for the next stage."
For those that missed out on early entry, there's still pathway programs and the regular offers that come out through the Universities Admissions Centre in December based on the ATAR.
