VTAC Preferences 2018

[Pinkydoo]

Hey guys! 

VTAC opens in just over a week!  Which courses are you going to pick? How many preferences are you going to put? Is anyone applying interstate (UAC, QTAC, SATAC, etc..)?

Let's discuss below!

Cheers

[Bri MT]

I don't see any reason to not put in the full 8 preferences, and I'm going to fill it with science courses. Since I've given up on the idea of being a marine biologist I'll stay in VIC seeing as we have some great unis here.

[Aaron]

VTAC opens in just over a week! 

Wowee, this has come around again quickly. I remember them opening last year! Feels like it wasn't too long ago.

Remember guys, any questions about courses can be posted in the VTAC Discussion board. Don't assume, don't guess. You are making an important decision here, it's important to get the right advice. A starting point is the VTAC Media series, click here.

Where to begin? OPEN DAYS! Honestly, there is nothing better than experiencing the uni for yourself. Take a friend, mum/dad/carer, or just go yourself! Get as many brochures as possible, walk around the campus and get a feel for your potential new destination. While open days are a massive marketing ploy and do their best to cover up the negative aspects, it does allow you to freely navigate and get a feel for it at least.

Most of all. do not pick courses based on ability to get in. Remember... you only get offered the top preference which has given you an offer every round. So you must be prepared for the scenario where you are given preference #2 (and nothing below that, given #2 is the highest).

Good luck, post questions. Post thoughts. Share everything! More information = better informed decision!!

[AngelWings]

Where to begin? OPEN DAYS! Honestly, there is nothing better than experiencing the uni for yourself. Take a friend, mum/dad/carer, or just go yourself! Get as many brochures as possible, walk around the campus and get a feel for your potential new destination.

Solid advice, Aaron! Beware that Open Days are from July - August usually for most institutions. Swinburne (Hawthorn campus) was today, for example, so find out quick! Also be wary of public transport disruptions, because PTV is upgrading right now.

I don't see any reason to not put in the full 8 preferences, and I'm going to fill it with science courses. Since I've given up on the idea of being a marine biologist I'll stay in VIC seeing as we have some great unis here.

You can still do marine biology at most unis. In fact, I think one of my teachers is a professor who specialises in marine biology.

Everyone on here is pretty involved in what they specialise in, so definitely feel free to talk to any AN user about what they study and suss out all the details you want to know.

Is anyone applying interstate (UAC, QTAC, SATAC, etc..)?

There are usually bursaries and scholarships that you can apply for that can cut down your travel and accommodation expenses, if you want to travel interstate. Check out the VTAC and interstate equivalents' website to find out when the key dates are and whether you're eligible for any of them!

[Bri MT]

You can still do marine biology at most unis. In fact, I think one of my teachers is a professor who specialises in marine biology.

If I were to study marine biology i would want to go to JCU, despite it being available in many places here. I've given up on it for career viability/compatibility-with-me type reasons; I believe that I could get into a course for it if that was still my goal.

Thankyou, I've looked at some of the uni threads and they have been useful for learning about specific subjects

[Quantum44]

Hey guys! 

VTAC opens in just over a week!  Which courses are you going to pick? How many preferences are you going to put? Is anyone applying interstate (UAC, QTAC, SATAC, etc..)?

Let's discuss below!

Cheers

Did the UMAT last week so I'm definitely going to put Monash med as my first preference. Not going to apply for med interstate as I want to stay in Melbourne. Just torn between Melbourne biomed or Monash biomed as my next preference. Melbourne uni is more convenient but graduate MD requires the GAMSAT which kinda sucks, so I have no idea which to put down.

[strawberries]

Definitely see no reason not to fill out every preference.
I believe you can change your preferences after you find out your ATAR though, but for courses that have additional requirements like interviews I don't think you can ??

Most of all. do not pick courses based on ability to get in. Remember... you only get offered the top preference which has given you an offer every round. So you must be prepared for the scenario where you are given preference #2 (and nothing below that, given #2 is the highest).

^^this
order your preferences in the order of how much you want to do the course

good luck

also, if anyone's considering applying interstate go for it. you will receive an offer from each state you apply to (provided you meet the requirements) so that can also give you more options at the same time.

[HopefulLawStudent]

Some things that I don't think have been mentioned yet but I think are worth reiterating even if they have been:

I can't stress this enough: (besides doing your research and all that) chuck in an application for SEAS and scholarships. Even if you don't think you'll get it, apply anyway, just in case. Take the time to fill out those applications on the off chance that you do qualify. Don't do what I did where I convinced myself I wasn't smart enough for a scholarship or eligible for an equity scholarship cos there were people who were so much more deserving. Like I ended up applying any way cos my mom insisted I apply anyway just in case but so many of my friends didn't even though they would've qualified which honestly makes me so upset on their behalf.

Aaaand it's perfectly okay if you don't know what you wanna do, where you wanna go or what your future may entail. Just go check out the open days, check out the courses and who knows, maybe something will fall onto your path. And even if it doesn't, everything is going to be okay. Like within my own friend group, some of us went off to uni, some to TAFE, others to work, etc. I'm ngl like a couple of my friends took much longer to work out wtf they wanted to do and for a long while a couple of us were thinking of staging an intervention because they were essentially just sitting around binge-watching TV shows, but eventually everyone found something.

Ooooh and AN is totally here for you guys if you need anything so please feel free to use the forums to get the help you need (that's sorta kinda what they're there for).

[lilyrosee]

Quick question: do you create a VTAC account by yourself or does your school sort it out for you??

Thanks

[LifeisaConstantStruggle]

Quick question: do you create a VTAC account by yourself or does your school sort it out for you??

Thanks

nah dude you have to create it yourself for security reasons apparently, that's what our school told us.

[lilyrosee]

nah dude you have to create it yourself for security reasons apparently, that's what our school told us.

Awesome thanks for letting me know

[atar.notes.user]

Remember... you only get offered the top preference which has given you an offer every round. So you must be prepared for the scenario where you are given preference #2 (and nothing below that, given #2 is the highest).

Wait i dont get that^ so u only get first two preferences?

[Aaron]

Wait i dont get that^ so u only get first two preferences?

You only get a maximum of one per round. The post you quoted is simply an example scenario.

Say you have 8 preferences entered:

#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8

You will not know whether all eight universities have offered you a place in the course or not. You will only get an offer for your highest preference that you were given an offer for.

So, if you did not get an offer for preference #1, but got one for all preferences from #2 to #8, you would only be shown #2 (so there is no way of being able to accept or know any lower preferences).

This is why ordering your preferences correctly is so important. You must be ready for the scenario where you are given one preference but nothing below that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MRbS1Om4Oc

REMEMBER: Always order your preferences based on what you want to get into the most (regardless of the ATAR/clearly-in requirements). This is the easiest rule of thumb and will hopefully lead to you achieving what you want.

[AngelWings]

Just to add on to this thread... ATAR isn't your only way in! Whilst HLS has posted about SEAS and scholarships, there's also different methods of getting in too.
1. Other pre-requisites
There's three main categories I'll mention: interviews, performance/ portfolios and other tests. They occur on certain dates, typically before or after the exam period, ranging from July to December. Know whether this, at all, applies to you. If you think it's a reasonable preference, try anyway.
Since some of these occur before the exam period, you can switch your preferences before the interview/ portfolio/ test dates and still try for them, even if they're Preference #7 or #8. (For example, architecture was Preference #5 of 12 for me, back in my day.) Even if you decide that it's not for you after that, at least you have some extra experience and you can decline for something you'd prefer.
If you're intending on going into health sciences/ medicine, I'm betting that you all know that you may have to do the UMAT/ ISAT and an interview, depending on where you want to go. If you want UMAT-requiring courses and you missed out, you'll have to try next year (if you're not in Year 12/ final year of Year 12 yet) or try elsewhere/ another degree that doesn't require it.
If you want to try any (fine) artsy courses, such as ones involving music, drama, architecture, design, game art, interior design and so forth, you may need to create a portfolio or perform and often, an interview too. These can occur any time from September to December, with most occurring in October before the exam period or in last November/ early December. You must have these courses as a preference before the due date (listed on their sites) to be considered. You must be organised as there are very few reminders for the tasks you must do in order to get in.

"What about people who don't want all those courses you've listed? Do I have things I need to do too?" I hear you ask. Best way to check is to do your research by checking out VTAC Course Search and university websites. If you can't find it, find contact details and ask away!   

2. Transfers
So you know for sure that you want to try physics, psychology, biophysics and chemistry at uni, but you also actually want to end up as a lawyer. What do you do then? Choose a science/ law degree and transfer out of science into a straight law degree. It's perfectly fine to take another semester (or more) to try everything you want. You're not expected to know exactly what you want right now. Transferring involving you switching degrees once you're at uni, so you will need an offer for any degree to start off with.

3. Bridging Courses
You checked out VTAC Course search and.... *gasp* you realise you never did Methods, but you really want to study a Bachelor of Commerce at Monash. What next? You can try for Business (no Methods pre-requisite) and get a course transfer or, alternatively, you could try a bridging course! Most universities have bridging courses that will allow you to essentially cover those pre-requisites in a year and usually, go straight into your intended courses' second year cohort right after.

"I don't want to study straight after VCE?": Gap semester/ year (Not a method of getting in)
You've decided that you really want to take a semester/ year off before you begin. What next? Still try hard, do the whole process and get into a course. Once you're accepted, choose to defer. Deferring allows you to hit the 'pause' button on your degree until you're ready. Just make sure you actually come back to study once you're done deferring.

[exit]

Hi, a representative from Monash told me that you are more likely to get a certain scholarship (based on ATAR) if you put down their eligible courses as no.1 as opposed to no.8 etc. as this would make it easier for the scholarships department to identify me.  Are they lying?