How to make a VTAC account
VTAC has a video on this:
VIDEO
Inside the VTAC account
The VTAC account should look something like this (courtesy of my sibling):
Fee Summary: will let you know if you've paid the VTAC fee yet or not.
Making an Application: - Course preferences - undergraduate: More on this below.
- SEAS application: Where you apply for SEAS generally for all institutes who partner up with VTAC. The advice is say "yes" to Category 1. More on this in a bit.
- View your personal statement: This is usually a good place to put other information. I can't quite remember what this is useful for, but I think it's sometimes used in the consideration of SEAS, scholarships and other programs.
- Scholarships application: Where you apply for scholarships for all institutes who partner up with VTAC.
Personal Details These sections are relatively self-explanatory, so I'll skip here. This covers your account and personal information for contact reasons.
Results and Offers Your ATAR and study scores will appear here when they arrive.
Coversheets These coversheets used to be used for when you sent paperwork to VTAC by mail, so they know who you are and what it's for. I think this might still be the case, especially if you're scanning/ sending in your Centrelink information or proof of medical/ psychological/ physical disadvantage for SEAS and/or scholarships.
VTAC Resources A wealth of helpful resources here. I would recommend people to use these if you need help or more information.
Course Preferences
The course preferences page looks like this (again, courtesy of my sibling):
You get 8 preferences in total and you should list them as Preference #1 being your
most wanted course and the rest in decreasing order of wanting to study that course. You are able to change the courses and their order as much as you like as long as they are open (see times in
Dates and Fees ) and you can have fewer than 8 preferences, but note that the fewer opportunities you put yourself, the less backups you've have that you like. (Note: Be wary of the date if you're adding a course with an early closing date or after the deadline for courses with additional criteria i.e. not just ATAR + special consideration entry.)
It's
super important that you have them in the order you want the most at the top, and NOT the order you think you'll most likely be able to get into them as you might just miss out of the course you actually wanted by doing this! You never know if a spot becomes available and if you were next in line, if it's not on your list!
More from VTAC on why this is super important:
VIDEO
Fee Types
There's also a few
fee types for courses :
- Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP): This is the type of course where you can get a HELP debt/ HECS loan and is common amongst most domestic students (Australian/ NZ citizens/permanent residents). You can defer the cost of your course until you earn a certain amount (usually when you get a full-time job). Course code ends in "1".
- Full Fee Paying (FFP): This is where you must pay your fees each semester (the amount of fees has been changing with government regulations on university fees), from memory. There is no loan involved, but can be quite hard if you don't have thousands of dollars to pay upfront for uni a few weeks into semester/ trimester. There's two types: domestic full fee paying (DFP) and international full fee paying (IFP). Domestic is for Australian/ NZ citizens and permanent residents and international, if you're coming from overseas. Course code ends in "2" for DFP and "3" for IFP.
- Bonded Places: This is usually a medical/ allied health thing, where you often get reduced fees in return for you going to rural/ regional areas and working there for a certain length of time.
- Course fees determined by provider: These are generally VET courses and/or courses from specialist institutes. You must be an Australian/ NZ citizen or permanent resident. Course code ends in "4".
More information on fee types can be found
here .
Course Types/ Levels
Different types of courses/ levels of courses also exist:
- Bachelor (undergraduate): This is your standard uni degree that most "big unis" will advertise e.g. a Bachelor of Arts. Often 3 years (single degree) or 4 years (double degree, has Honours attached or a specialist/ research degree) full-time in duration. Some courses can be 5-6 years full time, as they're often ones that have a lot to learn e.g. medicine. Honours years are still considered as undergraduate courses.
- Diploma (undergraduate): Often 1- 2 years, depending on course. Can be done on its own, used as a bridge between Year 12 and Bachelor, but can also be often tacked on to another course e.g. Diploma of Languages.
- Graduate Entry Teaching (GET): A postgraduate teaching/ education course. Requires an undergraduate course like a Bachelor before entry.
- Postgraduate courses: Requires an undergraduate course before you can apply. This includes Masters and PhDs amongst many other courses e.g. Graduate Diploma. Length varies on course, area and personal circumstances (including undergraduate course).
Some information regarding different levels of courses e.g. Bachelor vs. Diploma can be found
here .
SEAS Application and Categories
From memory, the application itself says to select the categories you'd like to be considered for and give statements and/or proof of disadvantage. It gives you a bunch of boxes to provide a description of your disadvantage and you fill them out to the best of your ability. (The scholarship one is similar, from memory. It's a bunch of questions and you fill them out.)
Category 1 - Personal Information and location: As per VTAC:
This category includes age, living or school location, under-representation of a particular gender in a course or field of study, recognition as an Indigenous Australian, recognition for being from a non-English speaking background and recognition for being the first in your family to attend tertiary study. The reason a lot of people say "tick yes for Category 1" is because VTAC will automatically process this and figure out if any of these personal details apply to you and if so, automatically use it for course consideration. You won't get reprimanded if you don't have any of these apply and you said "yes" to it, so why not? It's especially helpful if you're not sure what course you want to do or in a field where there's less males/ females/ non-binary doing that course and don't quite meet the selection rank e.g. if you're a guy who wants to study nursing/ teaching or a girl who wants to take engineering/ IT.
Category 2 - Disadvantaged financial background: This is where the low SES students, those on Centrelink and such prove that money has been an issue in your daily life/ education. Generally this will require some evidence, like a welfare benefit receipt.
Category 3 - Disability or medical condition: If a disability or medical condition has affected your education, you can put it here. Generally this will require some evidence, like a note from a health professional e.g. doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist.
Category 4 - Difficult circumstances: This is the "other disadvantage" category. Here's a quick list of
some of the disadvantages included:
- Refugee or asylum seeker status - Death of an immediate family member or friend - Long-term illness of a family member: illnesses considered as serious and long-term such as cancer or psychiatric illness - Severe family disruption including dealing with alcoholism or drug addiction - Divorce/separation of parents: difficult separation or divorce of parents including financial hardship and changed living conditions; requirement to change schools and social group - Natural disaster such as drought, bushfire or flood - Abusive living environment: physical, psychological and/or emotional abuse over an extended period by a person or persons close to the applicant - Disruption of education due to constant relocation: relocating to several different schools throughout secondary schooling, or disruption of education due to living or school location - Homelessness: you do not have a fixed address and do not live with your family or family members - Care leaver (applicants who have spent time in residential, foster or kinship care) - Discrimination on the basis of one's own sexuality, sexual orientations, gender-identities, sex characteristics, and/or romantic identities - Bullying, harassment or negative treatment because of personal characteristics such as race, religion, sexual characteristics, gender identity or sexual orientation -Excessive family responsibility: family is dependent on you for financial, emotional or physical support during your secondary education - Education impacted by remote learning due to COVID-19: for example, you did not have a suitable laptop or tablet for remote learning This last one might ring especially true this year due to the interruptions to physical schooling, especially when the first lockdown occurred.
In terms of how to write this out, begin by plotting points:
- What disadvantage you've experienced?
- How have you experienced it and why did it affect your schooling/ life?
- How long has this affected you (especially for Category 3)?
... then refine what you're saying to fit into the character limit and submit the application. More information and guidelines on what to write and/or need to submit as evidence can be found under each category of SEAS in the link below.
More information about SEAS can be found
here .
EDIT: Post below if you'd like some more information about a certain VTAC topic and I'll see what I can do.