Why Did I Do ATAR When I'm Not Going To University?

Let's start with the elephant in the room.

I got a 96.95 ATAR for my final year of high school. And, I didn't end up in university.

Jokingly I'd say,

I did ATAR to have other people's ATAR go down.

I'm not that cruel.

The main reason why I chose ATAR was out of one principle:

Doing one's best.

We're At The Principal's Office

Grade 10 is when you decide between the ATAR pathway or VET pathway.

My future aspiration was in business. Something in investment banking. A field involving money nonetheless.

My initial plan was doing 5 ATAR subjects and a business certification. School frown upon this. With 6 subjects, it gives you a higher chance of getting a better ATAR because the QCAA calculates using your 5 best subjects.

If you underperform in one, the other five can pick you up. Less room for error if you've chosen ONLY five.

Now, I had a meeting with the Head Of Campus to discuss this.

The meeting went like this.

"Denzil, what you can achieve is here."

Hand raised high

"And what the certification will achieve is here."

Other hand lower

When you put it like that way, it made the decision easier.

Go down the path where you push yourself.

Out Of Principle

The result does not matter as much as doing your best. I'm reminded of this constantly within my own house. And by my Grade 11 Digital Solutions teacher.

You can only control the controllable. A timeless principle that appeals to higher order.

Imagine this, if you were told to go down the ATAR pathway because you were to become a doctor.

Firstly, a tough game to get into. You're going to go through hell if you obsess over a result that it is outside of your control.

It's sort of my responsibility as a sovereign individual to reveal my highest self through the utilisation of potential. To practise sacrificing the comfort of ignorance and the uncomfortableness of becoming competent.

Learning a definition of work. Sacrificing the present for a greater reward or interest in the future.

(Specialist Mathematics was the best subject for this. "This is hard. But let me continue to try.")

Doing hard things reveals and creates character.

I am a better person from overcoming the obstacles that came with studying university prerequisite subjects.

What would make of me if I went down the VET pathway? The easier fork in the road?

I think enjoyment is not a prerequisite to doing work. Makes it a WHOLE lot easier though.

The only prerequisite for the burden to be carried is if it has a clear purpose or serves a greater good.

God being that higher good.

But I also think with work it's not binary. With any job you undergo, there will stuff you will enjoy and despise.

Again, this does not matter if it serves a greater purpose. And what was my purpose?

To do my best. To see how far I could play the game. To test myself if I could work towards something that I would not see the fruits until later in the future.

(Two perspectives: fruits in the final year of high school from the twelve years of preparation, or the fruits in the final year from the two years of ATAR preparation)

This idea of work positively stems from my time doing instrumental music. Think about it, you practice hours a week, an hour to rehearsal, only for a performance that may last 10 minutes.

That is the price for personal excellence.

Play The Game, Create Your Own Rules

If I had to create a story for my academic journey, I've always had this proverbial third place in academics.

I saw the number one and two fighting each other for academic supremacy. Being observant of a game I chose to not play being,

Who was the number one academic?

When I read Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules For Life in Grade 9, it implanted the idea of,

"Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today."

Thank God I never had any jealousy or rivalry when it came to academics. If you are the kind to be prone to jealous tendencies ask,

"Would I trade their life for mine?"

And I mean every aspect of their life. There will be some trades or sacrifices they've made that you're not willing.

The trap is thinking it's all reward and no work.

How Can You?

It's foreign people to spend two years for a reward that I will not utilise. The reward is not the rank itself.

Even though my line of work will not require a Bachelor's Degree, it's the person I became having gone through the trials and tribulations that matters.

Let's think for a moment, I very much could have said,

"Screw it! This ATAR is useless to me. Let me take it easy with VET."

Some part of me thinks I would switch over to VET. Or in the very least kill myself from boredom.

As a human, you need challenge. A goal. To endure meaningful suffering.