He had his eye on marketing or IT and was tossing up between the two.

But outside issues affected his school life – and his chances of studying either subject at university disappeared when he “crashed and burned” in his final exams.

“I had to re-evaluate what I was going to do,” he said.

Every year, thousands of year 12 students awake one day in December, anticipating or dreading the final result.

The idea that 13 years of schooling can be culminated into a single number marked on a bell curve can be hard to swallow.

And while for some students, the final result is the first step towards the future, for others, it can be the first road block to getting where they want.

Read more: Worried about your ATAR? Here’s what you should do next

Former Girton Grammar School Bendigo student Ashlee Nichol always knew she wanted to study medicine.

She had spent much of her childhood in and out of the medical system with bone issues, which fuelled her interest in the subject.

But when she received her Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, or ATAR, in 2015, she wasn’t happy with the result.

It had been a tough run to exams for Miss Nichol.

Six weeks before the end of year 12 she injured her wrist and suffered severe tendon damage, which made writing difficult and painful.

The injury would take another two years to heal.

Miss Nichol pushed through and wrote her final exams, despite the pain.

And once she received her ATAR result, she set about finding a new way to reach her medicine goal.

Miss Nichol spoke with her school about her options and then took a chance, applying for universities across the country in the hope one would allow her to chase her dream.

She aimed for universities that accepted students based mainly on interviews. She also applied for scholarships to support her while she studied.

Miss Nichol’s efforts paid off and after a gap year in her hometown of Castlemaine, she headed to the University of Adelaide.

The offer had come on February 2, 2016 – her 18th birthday.

Now, Miss Nichol has just completed her second year of her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery.

She is back in the region for a break, after a two-week placement at a Queensland GP. The placement was part of a scholarship she earned, through which she will experience eight weeks of rural placement during the next three years.

Ms Nichol reminded students that an ATAR did not present the only option.

“Even if you don’t get the result you want, that doesn’t mean you won’t get where you want,” she said.

“There are always pathways.”

Read more: Finally finished! Bendigo’s 2018 year 12 students celebrate VCE results

Like Miss Nichol, personal experience drew Eaglehawk’s Kendall Pearson into her dream field.

In 2009, she was a patient at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital due to kyphoscoliosis, a condition that not only caused her spine to curve in an S-shape, but out to one side as well.

She had surgery to avoid further health complications such as pain and respiratory depression in the future.

Surgeons removed four of Miss Pearson’s vertebrae and relocated two ribs, before fusing her spine into place with titanium rods and screws.

The hospital experience inspired her to consider paediatric nursing.

The wait for her ATAR score in 2013 was a nerve-wracking experience, made more so because she wasn’t the only one in her family waiting.

She and her identical twin sister Damara had both just graduated from Bendigo Senior Secondary College.

They anxiously waited to see who would learn of their fate first. Kendall’s score arrived five to 10 minutes after Damara’s.

“I was like, wow, I thought I going to get a little bit higher,” she said. “There was a little bit of anxiety.”

Miss Pearson was hopeful but not certain if the ATAR was high enough to get into her course.

She had experienced La Trobe through a Uni Bridges program while at school and received an early offer into health sciences there.

She knew it was a pathway into her dream job if she wasn’t accepted for nursing.

In the end, she scraped into nursing at La Trobe Bendigo by just 0.15.

Miss Pearson loved living in Bendigo while she completed her studies.

But her career led her to Melbourne – and this week, she started her dream job in medical imaging at the Royal Children’s Hospital.

“It’s a very bizarre feeling to go back to somewhere where it all began,” she said.

Miss Pearson thanked her school’s wellbeing team, who were there to support and guide her throughout year 12.

She encouraged other students to look beyond their VCE result.

“It’s not the be-all and end-all,” she said. “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself about your ATAR score. It’s just one very small part – half of a per cent – of what you can achieve.”

For Bendigo’s Carly Papst, the path into nursing was not always so clear.

She was in year 12 at Horsham’s St Brigid’s College in 2008 – and was unsure what to expect once school finished.

“I liked the idea of nursing but also liked the idea of midwifery but I also didn't want to do further study,” she said.

After school, she applied for for an Enrolled Nursing course at TAFE and a Bachelor of Nursing and Bachelor of Midwifery at some universities.

“I didn't open my ATAR result until nearly six months later as I knew I wasn't going to let that score determine what I did with my future,’’ Miss Papst said.

When she finally opened her result, she laughed.

“I didn't try much at school purely because I didn't know what I wanted to do,” she said.

“I wanted to live at home for at least another 12 months after finishing school so when I didn't get any uni offers and had the TAFE offer I just accepted it and went on from there.’’

Want more on education? Click here.

Miss Papst spent the year after school living at home, working, studying at TAFE and saving money.

She said the choice to take the year left her in a better position than peers who went straight to university.

“I owned my car and was on the way to securing a house deposit as well as having travelled overseas so I had no regrets at all,” she said.

Miss Papst completed her Graduate Certificate IV in Nursing (Enrolled Nursing) in 2009.

As she worked, she became more certain nursing was her passion. She threw herself back into study and graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing (Registered Nursing) in 2016.

“I felt so proud of myself,” she said.

“I did compare myself to others who I went to school with at times but I had amazing support around me such as mum and dad and my partner Tyler.”

A two-month placement in Bendigo led to Miss Papst applying for and being offered her graduate year in the city, where she now works as a circulating/ instrument nurse in theatre.

“I loved the town and the opportunities it had on offer,” she said.

“We are now happier than we have ever been and waiting to start to build our first home. No regrets at all.”

Miss Papst no longer even remembers her final score.

She encouraged year 12s to do what made them happy and not to focus on others’ expectations.

“Don't let that score dictate your life,” she said.

“There are always alternative pathways to get where you want to be, even if you're not too sure where that is right now.

“Take one day at a time and don't overwhelm yourself with things that haven't even happened yet.”

Like Miss Papst, Mr Pell found taking time between study was a blessing in disguise.

After he freaked out about his score, he seriously evaluated how he was going to end up in IT and marketing.

He considered mature-age entry and accepted a job at Bendigo Bank.

There, he had opportunities to learn new skills and reflect.

“I basically decided I didn’t want to go to uni,” he said.

“I decided I preferred project managing rather than generic IT and marketing.”

Mr Pell now works in consulting across Bendigo and Melbourne.

He says missing out on university gave him a dedication to his job he wouldn’t have otherwise.

“I don’t think I would have been anywhere near as committed to my career as I am now,” he said.

“I had to work harder. I didn’t go to uni, get a graduate position and move up. I started at the call centre and worked my way to what I’ve achieved.’’

Mr Pell said many of his friends who went to university ended up changing courses partway through or careers once they had graduated.

He said when he was at school there was a message that people who didn’t go to university would be less successful.

“I beg to differ,” he said.

He laments a system that expects 12-year-olds to know what they want to be when they grow up.

“In years seven, eight and nine you’re asked to choose subjects that could change your life,’’ he said.

Mr Pell encouraged students with ATARs below their expectation to consider other options.

“Don’t freak out – the world hasn’t ended,” he said.

Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.