Changing Preferences | Changing Universities | Youth Central

There are times throughout the VTAC application process when you can make changes to the order of courses you've listed in your application.  During these times you can:

  • change the order of your course selections
  • add courses to your application
  • remove courses from your application.

When you can change your preferences

You can change your preferences at any time during the VTAC application period, except for selected times just before each round of offers is announced.

If you want to make changes to your preferences before a particular round of offers is announced, you must make those changes by the specified closing date.

Note that there are different closing dates if you're:

  • applying for a teaching course
  • applying as an international student.

For a full list of change of preference dates, check out the VTAC Dates and Fees page.  

How to change your preferences

You can change your preferences simply by:

  • logging into your VTAC account
  • accessing your course preference list
  • making the changes you want.

For a step-by-step guide to the process, check out the VTAC Changing your course preferences page.

What to think about before changing your preferences

If you're making changes to your list of preferences, it's important to remember a few things:

  • Be realistic. Don't add a course that has an ATAR 20 points higher than your actual score (if you know it) – stick to courses with clearly-in scores close to your ATAR (if you know it).
  • Get informed. Find out if there are additional requirements, like admissions tests or prerequisites, for courses you're adding by looking them up on VTAC's CourseSearch tool.
  • Have a backup. Don't bet everything on one course – make sure you pick at least two courses you're confident you'll get into.
  • Stay calm. Don't decide on a new course based on your emotions.
  • Be sensible. Don't pick another course at the same uni or TAFE just because you want to go to that specific uni or TAFE – check out similar courses at other course providers.

How to find out more about courses

Your preference changes should be sensible and based on good information. Some places to get that information include:

  • the 'clearly-in' scores showing the ATAR needed to get into the course the year before (the VTAC CourseSearch tool lists this for most courses)
  • university and TAFE websites
  • your school's careers adviser
  • myfuture.edu.au (note: free registration is required to access this site)
  • friends and family members who've been to university or TAFE
  • people working in the industry you're interested in.

For more advice, check out our Choosing a course page. Our Career profiles pages also have some info on what kind of study different jobs require.

After you've changed your preferences

Course offers are generally sent out via email around mid-January each year. You can also check out your offers at that time of year by logging into your VTAC user account.

If you don't end up getting offered a place in the course you wanted, don't panic. You could get offered the course you wanted in the second – or even third – round of offers.

For more about the offers process, visit our VTAC Offers page.