Future Students

• School students
• Mature-Age students
• TAFE students
• Applying to La Trobe
  • Change your preferences 2009
    • What you need to know
    • Melbourne (Bundoora) campus
    • Bendigo campus
    • Albury-Wodonga campus
    • Shepparton campus
    • Choosing La Trobe - our students' stories
  • Undergraduate study
  • Late entry to La Trobe
  • Mid-year entry
  • Single subject studies
  • Deferral
• Fees & scholarships
• What La Trobe offers you
• Events
• Contacts and student services

Making the most  of the Change of Preference period

What you can do during COP

If your results aren’t what you need for your ‘dream’ course, don’t worry — there’s more than one way to get to uni. Call us on 1300  135 045 and we’ll help you choose the pathway that’s right for you.

If your results are higher than you expected, you may not want to change your preferences. But if you do change them, make sure you only list courses you actually want to do.

Important dates

VTAC

See the VTAC website for more details.

Change of Preference	14-21 December 2009 (excluding WA and IB applicants)
Round One offers	18 January 2010
Round One enrolment	27-29 January, 1-2 February 2010 (approx)
Round Two offers	5 February 2010
Round Two enrolment	10-12 February 2010

UAC

See the UAC website for more details.

Offer Round	Change Preference by	Offers Released Online
October	27 October 2009	29 October 2009
November	17 November 2009	19 November 2009
December	8 December 2009	10 December 2009
Early January	3 January 2010	5 January 2010
Main	6 January 2010	20 January 2010
Early February	26 January 2010	3 February 2010
Final	4 February 2010	10 February 2010

If you obtained your Year 12 qualifications overseas, other than the NCEA in New Zealand, contact La Trobe International.

If you completed the NCEA in New Zealand, visit the VTAC website for information about provision of your results.

Our top three tips

1. Get started straight away

• Make an appointment with your school’s careers adviser to talk through your options.
• Talk to your family and friends.
• If your question's best answered by phone, call the La Trobe COP hotline: 1300 135 045.

2. Check prerequisites and special requirements

• If you add new courses, make sure you check their prerequisites and special requirements. Check CourseFinder for details on La Trobe courses.
• If you don’t have the prerequisites for a  course, you won’t be eligible for a place. If in doubt, call the La Trobe COP hotline on 1300 135 045 and we’ll put you through to the relevant Selection Officer.

3. Make sure you meet the deadline

• You can change your preference list as many times as you like until 12 noon, Monday 21 December. If you don’t change your preferences by  then, your initial preferences will stand.
• However, you may be able to submit an Irregular Offer form after first-round offers in January. Please note this is not the same as  changing your preferences.
• If you realise you made a mistake on your preference list, contact VTAC immediately. Remember to provide your full name, VTAC application number and PIN.

All about ENTERs

Your tertiary entrance rank or ENTER is based on your VCE  study scores. VTAC considers English first, then your next best three scores  from Units 3 and 4 sequences. If you have a fifth and sixth subject, VTAC adds  10 per cent of these scores. VTAC then calculates your ENTER so you have a  position out of 100 relative to other students who completed VCE in your year.

La Trobe bases its selection of Year 12 students on ENTERs  for most undergraduate courses. For some courses — like Visual Arts and  Dentistry — you may need to meet extra requirements, such as submitting a folio  of artwork or attending an interview.

Clearly-in ENTERs

The Clearly-in ENTER for a course is the minimum ENTER you  need to be guaranteed a place in that course.

At La Trobe, Clearly-in ENTERs aren’t set in advance and  they change from year to year. The Clearly-in ENTER published in our  guides is from the previous year, and should be used as a guideline only.

We fill places in a course by listing the applicants in  order of their ENTERs, with the highest at the top (providing they’ve completed  the prerequisite subjects and special requirements). We then fill about 80 per  cent of the places by working down the list. The ENTER of the last student  given a place becomes the Clearly-in ENTER for that course.

Nobody will know the Clearly-in ENTERs for next year until first round offers are finalised and published on 20 January 2010, but you  can use the 2009 Clearly-in ENTERs as a rough guide.

Middle-Band

After we’ve calculated the Clearly-in ENTERs, about 20 per cent of the places in each course remain. We allocate these places based on  extra criteria, such as your performance in specific subjects or additional  information from a Special Entry Access Scheme (SEAS) application or a Personal Information (Pi) form.

See Middle-Band selection criteria for La Trobe courses in our CourseFinder database and in the VTAC guide.

Fringe ENTERs

Most courses have a Clearly-In ENTER and a Fringe ENTER. The  Fringe Rank is the rank above which 95 per cent of the applicants for that course are offered a place. Applicants with an ENTER between the Clearly-in ENTER and the Fringe ENTER aren’t selected in ENTER order, so not all  applicants falling between the two scores will receive an offer. Offers are made on an individual basis, depending on circumstances and Middle-Band  criteria.

Like the Clearly-in ENTER, currently published Fringe ENTERs are only relevant to 2009. New Fringe ENTERs will be established by the 2010  selection process.

VTAC Personal  information (Pi) forms

If you’re required to submit a Pi form, VTAC will forward it  to the relevant Selection Officers.

Courses with no ENTER  listed

You may notice that some courses for 2009 don’t have an  ENTER listed, with ‘RC’ or ‘N/A’ next to them instead.

RC stands for ‘range of criteria’. Not all programs choose  their students based on ENTER alone, but consider a range of criteria, such as  VCE results for specific subjects rather than just your ENTER, a folio or  interview results. This means they won’t select in rank order, so a Clearly-in  ENTER won’t be established.

‘N/A’ stands for Not Applicable, which is used when fewer  than 10 offers are made, or when a course is new.

Guaranteed ENTERs

La Trobe has a Guaranteed Entry Scheme that provides automatic admission into more than 60 selected undergraduate courses. If you  obtain a minimum ENTER set specifically for the scheme and meet prerequisites, you’re  guaranteed a place.

Schools Access La  Trobe Scheme (SALT)

SALT enables students from selected schools to apply for  entry into a degree program at La Trobe based, based on their school’s  recommendation. SALT applications for 2010 close on 9 October 2009.

Applying as an interstate or International Baccalaureate student

If you complete Year 12 in another Australian state (other  than Queensland), you’ll still receive a tertiary entrance rank — it will have a different name,  but the calculation will be the same.

If you’re from Queensland, the VTAC website provides a conversion table you can use to calculate your ENTER equivalent.

If you completed the International Baccalaureate rather than VCE, see the VTAC website, which provides a table to help you check the equivalence of your subjects with VCE prerequisite subjects.

Information for  Non-Year 12 applicants

The Change of Preference period also applies to all Non-Year 12 applicants applying on the basis of Year 12 results (and results from other  courses) obtained within the past two years, and to all Mature-Age applicants.

Irregular Offers

Irregular Offers give you one last chance to reconsider your  courses, and are most often used by applicants who have not received a place in  a course they had hoped for, or who changed their mind about what they wish to  study.

You may consider applying for an irregular offer if you:

• receive an offer but want to apply for a course  lower on your preference list;
• receive an offer but want to apply for a course  not on your preference list; or
• do not receive an offer and want to apply for a  course that’s not on your preference list.

Please note: You can only seek an Irregular Offer after  first-round offers have been released. You must have the prerequisites and at  least the Clearly-in ENTER (for the most recent offer round) for the course to  which you apply. In accepting an Irregular Offer, you’re entering into a  contract with the University and therefore you won’t be considered for any  additional round offers administered by VTAC. 

If you want to apply for an Irregular Offer, give us a call  and we’ll put you through to the Selection Officer for that course, who’ll  check if there are any vacancies in the course. If there are places available  and the Selection Officer wants to offer you a place, you’ll both need to sign an Irregular Offer Form.

You’ll be able to download one copy of the Application for  Irregular Offer Form from the VTAC website. You’ll need to bring this form and  all relevant documentation to the Selection Officer in person.

For more details on Irregular Offers, check the VTAC website or VTAC  Guide.

Accepting your offer  and enrolling at La Trobe

You should receive a letter from La Trobe within a few days of official publication of the relevant offer round, and an enrolment guide and  information package shortly afterwards.

The enrolment guide will tell you all you need to know about enrolment, including dates, times, venues, what to bring to enrolment,  information on HECS/HELP and general information about La Trobe.

If some students don’t accept first round offers, La Trobe  may make second round offers, and possibly third round offers.

However, it’s important to note that in recent years, more than 90 per cent of offers have been accepted in the first round. Also, not all  courses make second round offers, so if you don’t accept your first round  offer, you could wind up without a place. Consequently, our advice is to accept  your first round offer, as you can always change your mind if you get offers in later rounds.

What to do if you can’t come on enrolment day

If you can’t make it to La Trobe on the day and time on your  letter of offer, you can enrol by proxy or possibly arrange to come at a  different time. You’ll need to contact us as soon as possible to find out if  this is an option for you (it will depend on the course and the campus) — see  your enrolment guide for details.

Deferral

Deferral is available for most La Trobe courses. If you  decide to defer, you don’t need to attend enrolment. However, you must request  deferral in order for us to hold your place in the course until 2011. See your  enrolment guide for details. Please note that you can't defer scholarships.