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Applying to uni
Every year, around 50,000 Year 12 students apply through UAC for admission to courses offered by UAC’s participating institutions. For the majority of courses there are more applicants than places, so applicants are ranked for selection.
For most courses, your selection rank is your ATAR, but an institution may increase your selection rank for certain courses in recognition of, for example, your performance in related HSC courses or equity considerations. Therefore, your selection rank may be higher than your ATAR for certain institutions or courses.
Admission criteria
In addition to the ATAR, many institutions specify other admission criteria for certain courses. For example, they might specify HSC course prerequisites for, say, maths-based degrees, or auditions for music-based degrees.
Prerequisites For example, an advanced computing degree might specify Mathematics Advanced as a course prerequisite. If you haven’t studied Mathematics Advanced, you haven’t met this prerequisite and you won’t be considered for the course, regardless of your ATAR. Another course might specify Mathematics Advanced as a subject prerequisite. If you haven’t studied Mathematics Advanced, you can still be considered for the course but you won’t be able to study certain subjects within that course.
Non-academic criteria For example, visual arts courses may ask you to supply a portfolio and this will contribute to your selection for the course. Music-based courses may require an audition and others may require you to attend an interview, write a personal statement or sit a test.
Assumed knowledge
Institutions can also indicate the HSC courses that they either assume you have studied before you start a particular university course, or suggest you study to prepare for your chosen university course. These are listed as: − assumed knowledge − recommended studies. If you don’t have the assumed level of knowledge or haven’t completed the recommended studies you can still be selected for the course but you may have difficulty coping with your studies or just not be as prepared as other students.
When you’re choosing your Year 11 and 12 courses, use this booklet to find out if there are any admission criteria, assumed knowledge or recommended studies for the course you’re interested in. Then, when you apply for university at the end of Year 12, you’ll be able to meet any entry requirements to the course and have the foundations for success. There is more information about admission criteria on page 37.
The lowest selection rank required to be offered a place in a course is determined by three factors:
the number of places available in the course
the number of applicants for the course
the quality of those applicants.
These three factors mean that the lowest selection rank for a course can change from year to year and is not known until applicants are selected for that course each year.
The lowest selection rank does not represent the average ability of the students accepted for the course and does not reflect the difficulty or quality of the course.
Selection rank adjustments
Many applicants receive an offer to a course even though they have an ATAR below the published lowest selection rank. Often this is because other factors have been taken into consideration in combination with their ATAR and their selection rank for that course has been adjusted, making it higher than their ATAR.
These adjustments are due to factors such as: − strong performance in HSC courses − living or attending school in a certain area − recognition of educational disadvantage.
