To be eligible for selection into a university course, secondary school students must have:
- successfully completed the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) or equivalent qualification from another state, or the International Baccalaureate (IB)
- successfully completed each of the prerequisite subjects for the course and any prerequisite tests or auditions
- achieved the required marks in each of the prerequisite subjects
- met the English language requirement.
Universities then rank students according to academic merit. For most school leavers, this means being ranked in order of year 12 results. The best qualified applicants are chosen first and selection continues until all the available places in the course are filled.
For detailed information on this topic, refer to institutional publications on tertiary entrance requirements and principles of selection available from each university, or view the VTAC website at http://www.vtac.edu.au/
What if they choose the wrong course?
Some students start university and then realise they’ve chosen a course that doesn’t suit them, or their goals have changed.
This doesn’t mean they’re stuck in that course. One option is to finish the first year and then apply for transfer to another course. Another option is to defer for the remainder of the year to do some paid work or travel and take time to figure out what they really want to do.
“Time spent now [gathering information pre-enrolment] can save years of frustration, which could occur by not being in the right course.” Parent of a year 12 student