Study numbers stack up

By Melissa Donchi
ANYONE who’s completed VCE will know what it’s like.
The intensive studying, those last-minute cramming sessions and then that all too brief exam period that threatens to define the rest of your life.
But for Upper Yarra Secondary student Megan McLeod it was just another year. Then again, Megan does have a knack for making hard work look easy.
As a year 11 student Megan took two year 12 subjects scoring above 40 in both.
During year 12 she took extra classes in chemistry and maths methods on Saturday mornings.
“I guess I found VCE less stressful than my friends because I was taking a smaller load and already knew what year 12 subjects were like,” she explains.
However, Megan also took it upon herself to learn accounting by correspondence after she discovered it wasn’t offered at her school.
With no classes, teacher or peers to help her, Megan taught herself accounting at home through textbooks and lots of revision.
The hard work clearly paid off earning her second highest score in this subject.
“I am particularly proud of my score in accounting,” Megan reveals.
Now armed with a whopping TER of 94.05, Megan has a bevy of study options.
Her first preference is to study accounting at RMIT at Swinburne in Hawthorn.
“I’m planning on moving to Hawthorn so I can work and study,” she explains.
But while most university students take up some part-time hospitality work, Megan will begin a highly coveted traineeship with accounting giants Ernst and Young.
“It was all very last minute,” Megan said as she described how she and her mother went to an information evening and filled out an online application.
More than 500 people applied for the traineeship and only 50 people got called back, including Megan.
Megan will work five days a week for Ernst and Young, one of the largest professional services and accountancy firms in the world, while completing her studies on a part-time basis.
It’s another full-on year for Megan but one she will surely make appear effortless.