When you get a QTAC offer, there are a few different ways you can respond. These include:
- Accept
- Defer
- Decline
- Conditionally accept
- Conditionally defer
- Conditionally decline.
If you didn’t get your first preference, choosing a conditional response could be a good option for you.
Why respond “conditionally”?
The main reason to respond to an offer with “conditionally accept” (or “conditionally defer”, if you’re planning on taking a gap year) is so that you can be considered for another offer in the next QTAC offer round. For example, if you received an offer for the course listed second on your preference list, you might respond with “conditionally accept” to see if you receive an offer for your number one preference in the next QTAC offer round. If you responded with “accept” in the above scenario, you would not be considered for any other offers. Conditional responses keep your options open.
Do you want to change your preferences?
When you conditionally respond to an offer from QTAC, you have two choices: to leave your preference list as it is; or to change your preferences.
Conditionally responding AND changing your preferences
After you’ve conditionally responded to an offer, in the next offer round QTAC will consider you for any courses that are higher on your preference list than the course for which you already have an offer. So if you originally ordered your preference list by offer round date OR you’ve changed your mind about your course preferences, you might change your preference list at the same time as conditionally responding to an offer.
Conditionally responding WITHOUT changing your preferences
If none of your preferences have changed and/or all of your courses had the same offer round date, then no worries, you should be able to conditionally respond without changing your preferences.
What if I can’t see the options “Conditionally accept”, “Conditionally defer” or “Conditionally decline”?
If you received an offer for the course listed first on your preference list, you won’t be able to see the options “Conditionally accept”, “Conditionally defer” or “Conditionally decline” straight away. QTAC assume that if you receive an offer for your first preference course, you won’t want to conditionally respond. But you can still conditionally respond to an offer for your first preference course.
If you would like to conditionally respond to an offer that was listed as your first preference — because you have changed your mind about which course you want the most or you’ve ordered your preference list by offer round date — you will need to move the course you received an offer for down your preference list. Make sure you only move the course down below any courses you want more than it, but keep this course higher on your preference list than any courses you want less than it. Doing this will make the conditional responses appear. You can then choose the most appropriate response for your situation.
QTAC explain this in their recorded presentation below. The whole presentation is good to watch, if you didn’t see it at your school, but the information specifically about conditional responses is around the 26 minute mark.
If you received an offer for your second preference course or lower, and can’t see the conditional responses, you’ll probably need QTAC’s help to figure out why the conditional options aren’t appearing. So give them a call.
And if you have any other questions about responding to QTAC offers, get in touch with QTAC for some advice.