Swinburne University Is Dropping the ATAR Requirement for Heaps of Its Degrees

Now, this will brighten up your day.

The coronavirus pandemic has significantly disrupted life as we know it. But for Year 12 students in their final year of high school, it has been a particularly stressful time.

At one stage, we weren't even sure if ATAR exams would go ahead, considering students have missed out on face-to-face learning.

The disruptions also raised one very important question: Would students still apply for university entry in 2021 based on their ATAR? 

While it appears most universities will still be accepting school leavers based on their ATAR ranking, Swinburne University has announced they will allow graduating Year 12 students entry to some of their bachelor degrees without an ATAR this year.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Due to the chaos caused by COVID-19, the Melbourne uni has decided to let school leavers enrol in bachelor degrees in fields including arts, engineering, design, business, science and media without an ATAR. 

You can see the full list of eligible degrees here, and find out everything about how to apply here. 

As The Age reports, school leavers will need to provide a letter of recommendation from their school, and they'll still need to meet minimum English requirements.

The letter of recommendation will need to be from your school principal (or they can nominate a representative). 

Offers for university places will start being made in August, which is a whole four months before students are due to receive their ATAR ranking.

Swinburne isn't the only Australian university to introduce new pathways for current Year 12 students to apply for entry in 2021.

In May, the University of Western Australia announced it will keep the standard ATAR-based entry pathway, but it will also allow applicants to use their predicted ATAR from the end of Year 11. 

Similarly, Murdoch University will also allow WA students to apply to undergraduate courses using their Year 11 ATAR subject results.

Well, if you're keen on heading to Swinburne next year, you should probably start sorting out that letter of recommendation! 

Header Image: Facebook (Swinburne University of Technology)