The majority of Australia’s Year 12 students have received their final results and are now contemplating a tertiary course or job.
But for thousands of Australian students who participated in the International Baccalaureate, their nervous wait ended today.
At Melbourne’s Presbyterian Ladies' College, the 2015 cohort of 37 students waited anxiously in the school foyer.
"It makes me feel extremely proud. It's just the cherry on top of all she's done in the past."
IB co-ordinator Peter Francis was on hand to give them the good news.
"All 37 of you got an ATAR of 90-plus,” he told the students, to smiles and gasps of relief.
The International Baccalaureate diploma is a two-year course promoting personal growth and academic diversity. All students study at least one other language, an arts component, science and diverse – often community-based - extracurricular activities. Many international universities recognise the program, which was founded in Sweden in 1968.
"It's designed to create well-balanced global citizens so, alongside their studies, they do active, creative and service-based pursuits," Mr Francis said.
Kay Margetts, an Associate Professor of Education at University Of Melbourne, said while not all students were compatible with the program, it was expanding rapidly around the world and graduates were excelling.
Peter Francis speaks with a student. Source: SBS
"Some are really standing out in terms of social justice programs that they set up; others are doing amazing things in the arts and creativity," Ms Margetts said.
At the Ladies' College, 17-year-old Rachael Chan was relieved to open her envelope to find a score equating to a Tertiary Admission Rank of almost 99.
"I'm so happy...I'm hoping to do dentistry so I think I got the score that I needed," she said.
Her father, a dentist himself, was also elated.
"It makes me feel extremely proud," he said. "It's just the cherry on top of all she's done in the past."
Ms Chan said she hoped to study orthodontics, but was open to other options as she started her next chapter.
"You don't know what's going to happen later on," she said.
"I might go overseas and study… and do some travelling as well."
