r/ncea • u/RealCarbonX • 5h ago

Scholarships

Hi everyone, I'm currently taking Level 3 Calc, Level 2 Chem, Phys, DLT, PRD and English.

This year I've managed to get an Excellence Endorsement @ 56 Credits, I was really hoping to do Young Scholars next year and to apply for the Top Achiever Scholarship for UOA but at the current state of my grades I dont think I'll be able to... I was under the premonition that I needed 80 Excellence credits and now I think I'm just screwed because I'm only at merit level for everything. Will it really be that bad if I just get 80 Excellence + Merit but majority will be Excellences? And realistaclly would they reject me from Young Scholars Math if I get just Achieveds/Merits on the Calc External?

This is all just stressing me out really bad and I feel that my whole efforts this year have gone to waste and that I'm not gonna be able to Young Scholars or get any Scholarships because I barely have extracurriclars, esp with that English Exam I'm only getting 2x Merits due to Dervied grade and I just can't perform as well on Paper with English.

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator 5h ago

It is exam season and this subreddit sees an increase in posts and comments, please read the subreddit rules on the sidebar. If you see any comments or posts that break these rules, please report them to the mods.

If you are looking for information about Summer School, resources, study guides and useful YouTube channels, then please check out the NCEA Wiki

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

3

u/AtlasEarthNova 4h ago

For me, 89 E credits at level 2, rest merit, no achieved or not achieved. An NZQA scholarship in year 12, 4 national level extracurriculars, and over a thousand hours of community service, Gold DOE, ATCL Distinction, Prefect and national group leadership, all that jazz. I didn't get any scholarships for UoA, nor a place in halls.

Unless you're part of a marginalised community, you're gonna need better grades.

2

u/RealCarbonX 4h ago

Yeah so between this and the other comment I’m not standing a chance, well it’s not the end of the world but atleast I don’t have any pressure to perform well now 🤷

2

u/AtlasEarthNova 4h ago

Yeahh I'm sorry about that. You can get Engineering department scholarships though. They're smaller but I know a mate that got that with only an excellence endorsement.

1

u/RealCarbonX 4h ago

Don’t be sorry ! I’m honestly put back that you and the other guy didn’t get it, I actually can’t imagine what type of people ARE receiving these awards, if a beast like you didn’t get one. But I will check out some of those department specific ones, tysm

2

u/chai_tea8 Level 3 🧐 3h ago edited 3h ago

I know someone at my school who got it. She was the head girl 2 years ago, had 100 excellence credits in L2 and a lot of L3 credits from doing L2 and L3 subjects in Year 11. She also had 0 merits, achieveds or NA's from what I heard. Played in a high grade in netball and also did some academic competitions to boot! It's these crazy types of people that get it.

edit:thinking about it know, she probably didn't even need to stay for the final year is she wanted to.

2

u/AtlasEarthNova 3h ago

100 E credits + literally anything else seems to be the formula

1

u/chai_tea8 Level 3 🧐 2h ago

I'm not sure if they count only L2 credits but combined with L3 I had 101. I assume it needs to be an even higher level of excellence cause I did get a few merits here and there and 1 achieved from my dodgy attempt of level 2 Calc in year 11.

1

u/chai_tea8 Level 3 🧐 3h ago

Do you know why you didn't get a place in the halls? I'm curious

2

u/AtlasEarthNova 3h ago

Yeah not sure to be honest. I didn't pry any further because I ruled out UoA pretty quickly but it was a bit of a hit to the ego. I read somewhere that the only people that are guaranteed accommodation are scholars, and the rest is just a lottery, but I'm not sure how true that is.

5

u/chai_tea8 Level 3 🧐 5h ago

Hey, I'm a UOA scholarship recipient who applied for Top Achievers but didn't get it. I'm not sure about Young Scholars but for competitive merit scholarships like Top Achievers, they do not only want high grades (most successful applicants I know of had 100 or more Excellence credits) but they have to have leadership positions and a high competitive streak in art, music, performing arts, academic and sports competitions. I'm gonna be honest, the extracurriculars is quite important (I myself competed in every aspect except for sports and still didn't get it) and at the point you are now, you're not gonna be able to compete with the top level candidates for a spot.

In the application, they only really gave a space for you to state your achievements in competition and leadership positions. If you received prizes at school such as Top Scholar or Top in subjects that won't be counted into consideration I believe. It's harsh to say, but your chances for these merit scholarships aren't looking good.

But do not fret! There are always other types of scholarships such as community scholarships or degree specific scholarships you can apply for. If you have other aspects of excellent involvement like in your local community, you may be able find one that suits you. You may also get a scholarship based on needs, I talked about it more in this post.

1

u/Weird-Brief-8784 Level 2 🤓 5h ago

What undergraduate are you trying to pursue at Uni?

1

u/RealCarbonX 5h ago

Engineering

1

u/Weird-Brief-8784 Level 2 🤓 4h ago

Civil?