Applications are assessed against the published admission criteria for each course, using a combination of your educational background and attainment, English-language level, work experience, life skills, selection tasks and any eligible adjustments or special entry schemes.
Admission criteria are published on each course page on our website, and on the VTAC Course Search page.
Applicants who apply for ATAR courses must meet the minimum admission criteria and prerequisites, and successfully complete any selection tasks required.
Offers are made depending on the number of places available for that course, and any adjustments applicants may be eligible for. This means that the lowest ATAR or adjusted ATAR (called a selection rank) required to receive an offer varies from year to year.
To give you an idea about what ATAR and adjusted ATAR may be required to help you get into your chosen course, we publish the results from the previous year as a guide. See ATAR profile and relevant course pages for further information.
For non-year 12 applicants, an equivalent ATAR is generally used based on your educational background.
For example your GPA in Higher Education studies, or completed VET studies, even your previous year 12 results if you have no other further study past year 12 or your year 12 studies are still relevant.
Work experience may also be taken into consideration.
If the minimum ATAR is listed as a prerequisite, you must achieve this ATAR or above to be eligible for selection.
If a ‘minimum ATAR including adjustment factors’ is stated elsewhere in the course entry, you must meet the adjusted ATAR or above, either through your ATAR or your ATAR plus adjustment factors, such as SEAS, regional and subject adjustments.
At VU, the Bachelor of Education (P-12) is a course that states you must meet a minimum ATAR including adjustment factors. Remember ATAR and adjusted ATARs will vary from year and this information is a guide only.
If upward adjustment points are added to your ATAR aggregate, this adjusted ATAR then ranks you higher in the pool of applicants for that course, improving your chance to receive an offer.
Each applicant may be eligible for varying adjustment points for each course depending on the admission criteria and allowable subject adjustments for that course.
The maximum allowable adjustment points that any one applicant can receive towards any one course at VU is 20 adjustment points, which can be made up of any combination of the following:
Upward adjustments are added to the aggregate of your ATAR for specified studies. Subject adjustments are course specific and taking these studies is not compulsory, but because they receive an adjustment they can help improve your chances of receiving an offer. In some cases, different points are awarded to the aggregate according to the VCE study score you achieve.
Adjustment points can be added to account for factors that impacted your studies. For example, life circumstances that may make studying more difficult, including:
If you have applied for a course through VTAC, you may be eligible to apply for consideration of your circumstances through VTAC's Special Entry Access Scheme (SEAS).
Our exclusive VU Guaranteed program offers Year 11 and 12 students from partnership schools a guaranteed place at VU or Victoria University Polytechnic, prior to their final Year 12 exams.
Eligible VU Guaranteed students are guaranteed a place at VU within a week of applying and for most ATAR courses include five (5) ATAR aggregate points. Find out more about how the VU Guaranteed program works.
At VU we recognise that it can be challenging to study and manage the demands of being an elite athlete.
Approved applicants of our Elite Athletes program are eligible to receive five (5) ATAR aggregate points for all courses that select on the basis of ATAR (excluding Bachelor of Education p -12).
Find out more about the Elite Athlete program and how it can support you at entry and throughout your studies.
All indigenous students receive five (5) ATAR adjustment points for all courses selected on the basis of ATAR and some courses receive additional consideration.
Admission into a course will be based on an assessment of your capacity to successfully complete the course.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students can talk to Moondani Balluk staff about course options, and the range of support services and pastoral care available.
Many VU courses do not use ATAR as the basis for selection.
For applicants with recent secondary study, assessment is based on successful completion of VCE or equivalent and the study scores for each prerequisite subject listed as a criteria for that course, as well as any selection tasks (where listed).
For example, a course that lists ‘Completion of an Australian Senior Secondary Certificate (VCE or equivalent) including Units 3 and 4: a study score of at least 25 in English (EAL) or 20 in any other English’ means that any applicant who meets the minimum criteria will receive an offer for this course, providing there are places available.
Course places are also assessed for eligibility against other admission entry schemes, including:
Our exclusive VU Guaranteed program offers Year 11 and 12 students from partnership schools a guaranteed place at VU or Victoria University Polytechnic, prior to their final Year 12 exams.
Eligible VU Guaranteed students are guaranteed a place at VU within a week of applying. Find out more about how the VU Guaranteed program works.
At VU we recognise that it can be challenging to study and manage the demands of being an elite athlete.
Approved applicants of our Elite Athletes program are eligible to receive five (5) ATAR aggregate points for all courses that select on the basis of ATAR (excluding Bachelor of Education P -12).
Find out more about the Elite Athlete program and how it can support you at entry and throughout your studies.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students can talk to Moondani Balluk staff about course options, and the range of support services and pastoral care available.
Admission into a course will be based on an assessment of your capacity to successfully complete the course.
As ATAR is not an entry requirement for many of our courses, VTAC SEAS is not applicable as a requirement because equity consideration has been given.
VU courses and support programs have been designed to prepare students from diverse cultures for success, regardless of their prior experience, ATAR, age, socioeconomic or educational background.
In addition, extensive pathways and preparation courses including the 22582VIC – Certificate IV in Tertiary Preparation and Foundations at VU provide other means of access.
Most postgraduate courses require applicants to have completed some higher education study, equivalent to Australian standards. Admission criteria vary – some courses require the previous study to have been in a related discipline, while other courses accept previous study in any discipline.
Certain courses will consider relevant work experience in place of a higher education qualification. For these courses, a detailed resume'/ CV must be submitted and you may be asked for professional references.
For course-specific admission criteria and information about any additional selection tasks, please visit the relevant course page.
All applicants applying for TAFE/VET courses must complete a pre-training review and a Language, Literacy and Numeracy test. Test outcomes help determine which course is best-suited to the applicant as they begin studying, and may inform eligibility for VSL Student Loans.
Some TAFE/VET courses have additional selection tasks and other requirements.
For course-specific admission criteria and information about any additional selection tasks, please visit the relevant course page.
Applicants must meet the minimum English-language requirements or equivalent for each course.
These are published as part of the course-specific admission criteria on each course page.
Competitive courses have a high volume of applications, but limited places.
All applicants for competitive courses are ranked according to the published admission requirements – either by adjusted ATAR or equivalent ATAR, average grades in higher education studies, and/or by performance in selection tasks.
Applicants may meet the minimum admission requirements, but still not receive an offer if they haven't ranked highly enough among the applicants for that admissions period.
Some courses have additional tasks listed in the published admission criteria. Applicants are required to complete these tasks to be considered for the course.
In some cases, good performance in the selection tasks is required for admission. This is detailed in the course-specific admission criteria.
Selection tasks are course-specific, and are listed on individual course pages. They may include:
Each course page also has a section listing additional information for applicants to consider when choosing a course. This additional information is not part of the admission criteria.
Additional information might outline, for example, if a Working with Children Check is required for course placements. In this case, if the applicant can't complete this check, they should consider a different course.
Examples include:
