By Molly Magennis
Julian McIntyre has made history at Williamstown High School, achieving an ATAR of 99.95, the school’s highest-ever result.
While Julian knew that such high heights existed due to the fact that his brother achieved 99.9 a few years prior, achieving a perfect score was never a concrete goal he was working towards.
“I mean if you asked me a couple years ago, I would’ve said that 99.95 was, that’s inconceivable… no it doesn’t actually exist, but there were a couple things that sort of happened along the way that made it more possible,” he said.
“I was never working towards it as a goal, [it] sort of fell into place.”
Julian said that half the work was done last year, when he achieved a 50 and a 49, higher than he was expecting, in Maths Methods and Physics.
This year he completed French, English, Specialist Maths and a Deakin University extension program specialising in engineering, which also contributed to his overall score.
While he’s undecided which university he’d like to attend next year, engineering, either civil or mechanical, is the path he wants to take.
While he admits doing VCE during the pandemic was a weird experience, Julian said he thankfully wasn’t affected by at home learning as much as some other students were.
“I think I was advantaged by the fact that it didn’t hurt me as much as I imagined it would’ve hurt a lot of students.”
For students who woke up last Thursday with a score they were disappointed with, Julian had some sobering words.
“There’s no sense of fulfillment or enlightenment with an ATAR of 99.95, the cliche is still there that the ATAR doesn’t define you,” he said.
“Your life will certainly go on, my life won’t change all that much as a result, no one’s life changes all that much as a result of their ATAR.
“It’s all about realising the next step is the one that’s going to be the biggest.”
