5 myths about accepting early offers

Debunking the biggest myths about early offers

Navigating the information about university early offers can feel overwhelming, especially with all the misconceptions floating around. Can you accept more than one offer? Can you change your preferences?

Here, we rebut five of the most common myths about accepting an early offer.

Myth: UAC preferences are set in stone.

Fact: You can change preferences even after accepting an offer.

The average Year 12 student changes their preferences three times before commencing their studies. You can keep your options open simply by updating your UAC preferences after accepting an offer, ahead of the next UAC offer round deadline. 

Myth: Changing UAC preferences costs $$$.

Fact: Unlimited changes are included in the one UAC application fee.

UAC says: There is no charge to change your preferences, and you can change them as many times as you like before each offer round preference closing date.

Myth: You can only accept one offer.

Fact: The average Year 12 student receives two offers*

Accepting an offer is not a legally binding commitment. Just because you’ve accepted an early offer from another university first doesn’t mean you can’t accept one from UNSW when it comes. If you receive an offer from UNSW, just remove the degree you accepted first from your UAC preferences.

If you’ve already accepted an early offer, congratulations! It’s such a relief to get clarity on your direction for next year.

Myth: Your ATAR won’t be good enough.

Fact: Back yourself. Now is not the time to be modest in your aspirations!

Go for gold. You could get an awesome ATAR – don't miss out on your dream degree because you didn’t go with your first preference. Each year, thousands of high school students rank higher than they think they will. You may be one of them. 

You may also consider the additional adjustment factors that could boost your ATAR. Application to UNSW is based on your Selection Rank, which is your raw ATAR and any additional adjustment factors. 

Don't forget, there's opportunity to change your preferences after you receive your ATAR and before our main offer round. This means that you can shuffle your list based on your results to put your dream UNSW degree as your highest eligible preference.

Myth: Your future rests on your UAC preferences.

Fact: You can change degrees even after you’ve started studying.

You can change to a different UNSW degree without having to reapply through UAC. We don’t even look at your ATAR. How? After one year of study with us, you can switch degrees through our undergraduate Internal Program Transfer (IPT)**. We look at your uni marks and other eligibility criteria.

Changing degrees is one option if you didn’t get the right ATAR for your dream UNSW degree. Another option is taking one of our admission pathways, which consider more than just your ATAR.