Course requirements All courses listed on VTAC have their own prerequisites and requirements, which are published on the CourseSearch website. Most courses will require a minimum ATAR before an offer is even considered. Some institutions publish a
guaranteed ATAR, where if the applicant achieves higher than the ATAR and preference appropriately they will be secured a place in their chosen course. For those who score between the minimum and guaranteed ATAR, personal statements will also be a part of the screening process. Not all courses judge their applicants solely using ATAR. Some courses require an
audition or a
folio, while some courses will require an admission test before applying, notably the
University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) that is needed for undergraduate medicine/surgery courses. Other tests include: •
International Student Admissions Test (ISAT), for international students applying for Type 3 places in medicine/surgery courses at Monash University • VETASSESS • Casper, for initial teaching education courses The ATAR profile for all undergraduate courses is also published on the VTAC website, acting as a guide for students if their score is enough for being considered for the course. A sample ATAR profile is as follows: Where it indicates the student with the highest and lowest ATAR that was made an offer in the previous year, as well as the median ATAR of all students that entered the course. The right column shows the ATAR data after Special Entry Access Scheme (SEAS) adjustments.
Preferencing VTAC processes applications from suitably qualified students, which may list up to 8
preferences for tertiary courses in the state of
Victoria. Tertiary institutions determine whether the applicant is given the offer to undertake a course – VTAC then informs students of the highest preferred course they have been offered, if any. Universities do not consider the order of preferences when making offers, so all courses listed on an applicant's preferences will be treated equally and making sure that no applications are disadvantaged. Some courses have early closing dates, where after the date students will not be able to add them to their preferences. This mainly includes courses that require interviews or auditioning, particularly in
areas such as
medicine,
music or
fine arts. After the release of VCE and
ATAR results, applicants will still be able to adjust their preferences for a few days before the closure of the system. Students are able to change their preferences for any reasons, including a change of mind, adding a newly available course or if the course applied has been cancelled and needs replacement. There are no additional
fees for change of preference, provided that they have already paid the application fee. After the release of offers for each round, the system will reopen to allow for preference adjustments before its closure again for the next offer round.
Special Entry Access Scheme (SEAS) The Special Entry Access Scheme (SEAS) is the umbrella program run by most institutions to which students will be applying for courses through VTAC. There are four categories in SEAS. Students can apply for any categories they have experienced education disadvantages in, including: • Category 1: Personal information and location. This category includes age, living or school location, under-represented gender in a course or field of study, recognition as an
Indigenous Australian, from a
non-English speaking background and being the first in the family to attend tertiary studies. • Category 2:
Disadvantaged financial background • Category 3:
Disability or
medical condition • Category 4: Difficult circumstances (including
COVID-19 related difficulties) Only the Selection Rank that is used to determine higher education applications will be adjusted after applying for SEAS, while the ATAR will remain unchanged. Different institutions may also have different methods of SEAS adjustment due to differences in the calculation method, and the under-represented groups in each course are different.
Offers There are two types of intake: the Semester 1 intake and the mid-year intake. Not all institutions participate in the mid-year intake, and is a less popular option due to Australia having its
academic year starting in January. There are many offer rounds for the Semester 1 intake, which most high school leavers apply to. • November round offer, only available to non-year 12 applicants • December round offer, new in 2019, only for applicants who have already received their ATAR (Current students in Victoria,
New South Wales and
ACT) • January round offer, for all other applicants (including students completing the
IB Diploma) • Multiple subsequent offer rounds in January through March, for
New Zealand applicants and applicants who have received a better preference Students can only receive one offer in each round, with the option to accept, defer or decline. An offer from a course with a higher preference can be received in subsequent offer rounds. However, it is strongly recommended not to decline as it is not guaranteed that an offer from a higher preference can be received, and students are allowed to withdraw from their previous offer if they change their mind. For domestic applicants who stil have not receive any offers after the first February round offer, they may receive a supplementary offer from courses they did not list on the preference list but have vacant places, provided that they had given the permission to release their application to all courses with vacancies. ==Score calculation==