When does your ATAR expire?

Never. Your ATAR does not expire. So that’s fantastic to know.

But it might not be what you use to get in to university in a few years’ time.

Let me explain.

Your ATAR is just one way to get a rank for university entry

As I’ve written about in my Pathways to uni post, there are quite a few other ways to get a rank that you can use for university entry (especially in Queensland).

These options include:

• Completing a VET course, like a Certificate IV, Diploma or Advanced Diploma
• Completing an enabling course, like a Tertiary Preparation Program (TPP) or Adult Tertiary Preparation (ATP) program
• Doing the Special Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT)
• Completing at least a full-time semester (or equivalent) of university study

You can have more than one rank

Some people will have more than one rank.

For example:

• Someone with an ATAR + a diploma.
• Someone with an ATAR + Certificate IV in Adult Tertiary Preparation.
• Someone with Certificate III + a year of university study.
• Someone with a trade + the Special Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT)

All of these people would be considered to have two ranks (in Queensland). And there are plenty of other combinations out there that might mean you have two or more ranks in Queensland or other states.

When you have two (or more) ranks, you need to know the policies of the uni(s) you’d like to study with to know if both your ranks will be used when you apply for university.

Some universities have policies about which of your ranks they use

Usually universities will look at all of your ranks and then use whichever is highest to assess you for a place in a university course. But it’s always a good idea to double-check, because some universities have specific policies.

For example:

When could your ATAR be replaced by another rank?

The second scenario above is one in which your ATAR could be considered to be eclipsed by the rank you would get from your university studies. This is usually the only situation in which your ATAR is replaced by something else.

The good thing is, usually your rank from university studies is really high! In Queensland, passing a full-time year of university study is equivalent to an ATAR of 93.00. And if you do better than just pass, your rank is much higher.

So most people don’t miss their ATAR once they have good university marks to use instead.

Where can I find out more information for my situation?

If you want to make sure you understand your options really well, I’d recommend talking to:

• The university(s) you’d like to study with
• The Tertiary Admissions Centre for the state(s) you’d like to study in
• A Careers Counsellor (like me)

Someone wrote that my ATAR will expire after one year – why?

A few years ago, someone wrote an article about the ATAR expiring after a year. What they were trying to say was that, after a year of work or study, you might have another rank as well and this could give you a different pathway to the degree you want to do. This is true!

But because the article wasn’t very clear about the fact that your ATAR is still valid, it made a lot of people think they need to use their ATAR or lose it. This isn’t true. Your ATAR doesn’t expire. And most of the time, you can use it for entry to university many years after you received it.

But it is always important to double-check with the uni you want to go to to see what kinds of policies they have. You might be surprised by the other ranks you have collected, how high they are, and all the options that could be open to you.

Key takeaways

• Your ATAR does not expire
• You might get other ranks from the study or work you do after you finish school
• Whether you can use your ATAR and/or your other rank(s) for university entry after school depends on the uni you want to study with
• To understand your options in depth, consider chatting to:
  • the uni(s) you’d like to study with
  • the Tertiary Admissions Centre for the state you’d like to study in (QTAC, VTAC, UAC, SATAC, UTAS or TISC)
  • a Careers Counsellor (like me)

Good luck! 💪

Tom

graphic by stories