After what can only be described as another tumultuous year, it is heartening to report that all 2021 Year 12 students planning to go on to tertiary study in 2022 successfully secured a preferred place at an Australian based tertiary institution. Some students have also been offered places at overseas institutions.
There are four students who did not seek to undertake tertiary study or had returned overseas after completing their VCE to pursue their studies.
A strong focus on the Group of Eight
Around three quarters of the Class of 2021 will begin their tertiary studies at a Group of Eight university, including popular choices the University of Melbourne and Monash University.
Of the 28 students who received an early offer from the Australian National University, 12 are now studying in Canberra.
RMIT University continues to attract interest, ranking the third most popular destination overall.
Increased interest in generalist and combined degrees
The University of Melbourne’s Graduate Degree Package and Chancellor’s Scholar options, which allow students to complete generalist degrees with a guaranteed pathway to a graduate program, continue to be popular choices. The Class of 2021 received 17 offers of this type, up from 9 last year, with 10 of these degrees combined with a Master of Engineering.
Many other students will also be completing combined degrees at undergraduate level, with over half of the Monash University offers including double degree options.
Overseas study destinations
We saw far fewer overseas applications than for the Class of 2020, with four students applying to study in the US, nine applying to study in the UK and one in Japan.
One student will commence studying Engineering at the University of Cambridge later this year, while others have been offered places at the University of Manchester, UCL (University College London), Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Exeter.
Some of the students who applied to study in the US are still awaiting the outcome of their applications at the time of publication, but we are aware that offers have been made for places at UCLA, the University of Chicago, Pomona College, and the University of California San Diego. These overseas offers represent a range of study areas across the humanities, social sciences, and business.
A broad spectrum of study areas
The fields of study our students have chosen represent a wide range of interests and skills, from engineering to the creative arts to the natural and physical sciences.
Two students will begin their degrees through direct entry to medicine at Monash, with at least two more students choosing a broad-based science or biomedicine degree prior to their guaranteed place in graduate medicine through the Chancellor’s Scholar program at the University of Melbourne.
The Class of 2021 had a slightly higher proportion of students choosing degrees in the areas of Engineering or Natural and Physical Sciences (31%) than those going on to Management and Commerce degrees (30%). Culture and Society (which includes degrees in the Arts and Law), combined with Creative Arts, was the third most common field of interest (27%).
