Congratulations if you’ve been offered an application to the principal’s discretionary category for a selective school!  They’re very hard to get into and to be offered one means you’ve done well in the exam and may have been offered a spot in another selective school.  If you haven’t been offered one but am interested in future preparation, read on!

In this post, I’ll talk about how to make your application competitive and what they’re looking for.

1) Remember it is competitive.  Let’s look at the stats.

Melbourne High has 15 discretionary spots and 180 applications.  I’m assuming Macrob is not dissimilar.

2) So… to be competitive you’ve got to stand out.  How?

After helping with students and parents with discretionary applications here are my tips:

In the last 12 months, it would be good if:

• You’ve participated in AND achieved a high level of something outside of just school or tuition.
• You’ve involved in something that would help to raise the profile of the school for the better <– IMPORTANT

Here are some examples of extra curricular activities you/your child could be involved in that would be consider outstanding:

• Awarded Best and Fairest at State Level competition for a particular sport (e.g. softball, AFL, soccer, rowing)
• Unique involvement into a sport - one of the girls at Macrob was heavily involved in her local sailing club and ended up sailing solo for a long distance.
• Involvement in singing at a high AMEB level and participation in singing competitions - one of the girls in discretionary category got in solely because of this.  It makes sense, as both MacRob and Melbourne High do winter concerts and other singing type events so having good singers is important.  There’s heaps of people that play piano or violin so they’re not ranked as highly as say uncommon type music for example: singing, double bass, flute, bassoon.  I guess it’s playing musical politics here.
• One that’s out of the box is the online community.  I met a very impressive boy at a meet up who was busy learning how to use the google API and he was making iphone apps wholly self taught.  Something like that is very impressive and can be measured with github communities through level of contribution to open source code etc…

Regarding the application process.  It usually involves:

• Personal statement/response
• Achievements outlined
• Family association
• Considerations of Disadvantaged.

To do well, it’s the first 2 that really count with particular emphasis on the achievement outlined.

The other question, I get asked often is how to write a personal response?

To write a great personal response I would:

• Think it through carefully - it is a reflection on you - it must be intelligent and well thought out.
• Highlight personal achievement and how you got there
• How you would specifically contribute to the school.
• How your values abide by those of the school.
• How you would essentially enhance the school over an above your competitors (other people writing their applications).

If you need help with the discretionary category of a school application, please feel free to schedule a time to chat with me or ask me a question.