Choosing your VTAC preferences

As the date for submitting your VTAC preferences approaches, we want to give you some tips for making this choice. Selecting your VTAC preferences can feel intimidating. I think there are two main reasons why this might be scary.

1. What if I don’t get into any of the courses I choose?
2. What if I choose a course, and then when I start studying, I hate it?

But your VTAC preferences are not the last study or career choice you will ever make. If you’re still feeling unsure about your choices, don’t worry!

What if I don’t get into any of the courses I choose?

• Make sure you put a whole range of courses on your preference list. The first one or two should be your dream courses, even if you think there is no chance you’ll get into them. The body of your list should be ones you want that are realistic. Then make sure the last couple are courses you would still be happy to do, but which have entry requirements you’re pretty sure you can achieve.

• Your first round selections are not the ‘be all and end all.’ You can change your preferences once you know your ATAR. Learn about change of preference here. If you realise you did much better or much worse than you expected, you can change your course preferences so that you have some more realistic options.

• Put your courses in order of preference. This seems really obvious, but a lot of people put their preferences in order of highest ATAR to lowest ATAR, or some other method. However, the entrance score for a course can change from year to year. You never know exactly what you’ll get, so make sure you list the courses in the order you actually want them.

What if I choose a course, and then when I start studying, I hate it?

You won’t know exactly what a course is going to be like until you’re in it, but here are some things so you’ll have a better idea of what uni will be like.

• Be prepared. Find out as much as you can about all the courses you’re applying to. It’s best to be well-informed. You can tour universities to get a feel for them. You can read about courses on the university’s website. You can search the internet to see if current students are blogging or leaving reviews for their course or subjects. You can find out what subjects are offered within individual courses. You can look up what graduates from those courses are doing. Think about what’s important to you – it might be leaving university with a job, or leaving simply with an open mind.

• You can transfer between courses once you’re at university. If you hate your course, you can usually transfer to a different course at the same university. You might even get credit for the units you’ve already studied. I know someone who purposefully applied for a course she didn’t want, because she knew she would be able to get into it and then transfer to the course she did want. I also know someone who applied to a course she didn’t want, and then discovered that she loved it, and has changed her career path.

• University will be a bit difficult for at least the first semester. Once you start, try to separate your feelings about the social side of uni from your feelings about the academic side. The first semester can be lonely – you might not know many people, and you might have moved out of home for the first time. It’s harder to make friends than at school, as you don’t spend as much time with the same people. If you’re struggling to make friends, it’s totally normal, but feeling lonely doesn’t mean the same thing as hating your course.

Finally, the reality is that University isn’t for everyone. Success can often be measured in pretty confined terms – go to a “good” uni, get a “good” job, make lots of money. But your happiness is also really important. Measure success in terms of goals you set yourself, rather than ones other people set for you. Listen to people’s advice, but make up your own mind at the end of the day.