University offers: Your FAQs answered

Wondering about early offers, ATARs and preferences? We’ve answered all your questions about accepting an early offer from UNSW.

Admission pathways

Guide to preferences

Female student at the UNSW campus Kensington

All of your questions about UNSW offers, answered.

Early offers can give you peace of mind about your future. In this guide, we’ll answer all of your questions about UNSW offers, including the role of ATAR and what to consider when planning your university preferences.

University early offer FAQs

Offer FAQs
ATAR FAQs

Offer FAQs

During the application process, universities and the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) determine which UAC applicants are eligible for places in which degree. The universities then make an offer to the eligible applicants.
Early offers are exactly what the name suggests – early offers to study for future university students.

The early offer process differs from university to university. At UNSW, early offers are through the Gateway Admission Pathway.

Learn more in our complete guide to early offers.

Learn more
Definitely peace of mind that you’ve secured a place at UNSW. If you receive an early offer for any degree at UNSW, we recommend accepting it as soon as possible so you don’t miss out on studying your preferred degree.
Course preferences are a list of the degrees you would want to study in your application to study at university, in order of priority.

Your preferences tell UAC and the universities what degrees are most important to you. If you don't have preferences, you don't have a complete UAC application.

For more information, see our step-by-step guide to UAC preferences.

Learn more
An offer round is where universities make offers to students. Students must choose whether or not to accept their offer by the end of each round.

UAC's key dates outline the application and acceptance deadlines for each offer round.
UNSW's main offer round is December Round 2. That said, we don't always issue offers for all courses after our first main offer round.

UAC has offer rounds throughout the year however, the main offer rounds for high school leavers are in December and January.

UNSW's main offer round has its application deadlines in December, with offers sent out in December Round 2 and January Round 1. UNSW will also make offers in January Round 2 and February Round 1, which both have application deadlines in January.

You don’t have to wait until November to apply. In fact, it’s cheaper for school leavers to submit an early-bird application before the end of September.

See UAC key dates for more information.
Nope. It’s all in all at once during an offer round, which is why we recommend you accept your offer as soon as possible.

Offers go to people who:

have an eligible ATAR

have a competitive selection rank

listed the degree as their highest eligible preference*

*If your ATAR is eligible for the courses you’ve ranked 3rd and 5th in your UAC preferences, you’ll be considered for your 3rd preference – even if your 5th preference has a higher ATAR requirement.
Yes, if you receive an offer to study at UNSW but cannot start straight away, you may be able to defer or delay starting your degree for up to 2 years, and up to 12 months for UNSW Online programs.

Learn more about deferring offers:

Learn more
If you’re not sure whether to accept an early offer because you don’t want to start your studies at the beginning of the university year, you have two options.

You can defer your offer, which means accepting the offer but delaying the date you start. This means your place at UNSW is secured. You can start at UNSW in February, May or September because we have a trimester academic calendar. However, not all degrees start each term, so look for the ‘Commencing Terms’ information for the degree you want to study.

Otherwise, you can apply through UAC the following year as a non-school leaver. UAC holds offer rounds throughout the year.

ATAR FAQs

The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) is a score calculated by UAC based on your performance in the exams and assessments you complete in your final year of high school.

You won’t find your ATAR score on a school report card. It’s calculated using an algorithm that’s designed to create a fair ranking for all Australian high school students. The algorithm takes your best two units of English and the best eight units from your remaining units (only two of them can be Category B courses). Then, it scales the numbers, according to how well everyone did in the same courses.

If you want to dive into this, Year 13 explains it pretty well, including why predicted ATARs might not be so reliable. UAC also explains how its algorithm scales students’ marks to create their ATAR.
While an ATAR makes you eligible for a degree, a selection rank is what universities use to assess students for a competitive place in their degrees.

A selection rank is created with your ATAR plus points you can earn from various adjustment factors. We add some types of points automatically if you're eligible for them. For others, you'll need a separate application process. Our selection ranks recognise that people are far more than just their ATAR, accounting for excellence in academia, economic academic disadvantage, and elite high school athletes, musicians and leaders.
Adjustment factors are points added to your selection rank.

We allocate points for your performance in the subjects you studied, your achievements outside the classroom and your personal circumstances. We automatically add points for some situations, but for others, you will need to apply for them through a direct application or through UAC.

Learn more
You might receive an adjusted ATAR as part of an early conditional offer through an admission pathway or entry scheme. This means that you will only receive a firm offer for that degree if you sit the HSC and achieve the lower ATAR adjustment.

You're so much more than your ATAR

Demonstrate your passion and talent alongside your ATAR through our Portfolio Entry Early Conditional Offer Scheme. The scheme provides early conditional offers for a range of eligible degrees.

Learn more