VCE is not essential for university entrance. It is the main university-entrance route but there are other pathways. Basically, universities use VCE scores to compare students’ results and offer positions to those with the highest results. With alternative pathways, what you need to do is prove yourself in some other way and, from the university’s point of view, have something they can use to compare you to other students.

You may find it beneficial to go to some university open days a couple of years before you are looking at entering in order to check the requirements for the particular courses and universities you are interested in. Talk to the staff (either at the open day or via their admittance offices anytime) about the courses you are interested in and what the entry requirements for them are. Don’t be put off if their immediate response is that you need VCE. Instead, explain that you are a home educated student and ask about the alternative entry pathways listed below to find out which one/s they recommed for entry to the course you wish to access.

Here are some of the pathways available for home ed students wishing to enter university without VCE.

Melbourne University Community Access Program (CAP)

www.unimelb/community/access/index.html
This program allows any member of the community, regardless of age or academic experience, to study any first year unit of any faculty at Melbourne Uni. CAP students study alongside undergraduates. Some people use the CAP program to study a subject out of interest. It can also be used as a university entrance pathway. If you wish to use the CAP program to enter a degree course, you need to enrol in four units over one or two semesters and achieve an average result of 75% across those four units. You are then elgible to enter the degree course. Before enrolling in the CAP program, check the entry requirements for the degree course you wish to enter so that you can match the CAP units you undertake to meet these requirements. For example if the degree you wish to gain entry to requires Year 12 Physics and you don’t have a VCE Physics (or even VCE at all), you can enrol in the Physics Fundamentals unit and it would meet the Physics requirement for your degree. Once you gain entry via CAP, the units you have already completed count towards your degree. The cost is around $3000 per unit.

Single Subject Entry

Most universities allow people to enrol for a single subject. This pathway may be used by home-ed students to gain access. You enrol in a single subject (again, you should make it a subject that will meet the prequesites of the course you wish to enter), do well, and then apply for full entry, using your single subject entry as proof of ability. Depending on the course you wish to do and the university you wish to attend, you may need to undertake more than one single subject (i.e. over successive semesters/years).

Non-School Leaver Entry Pathway

This pathway is basically for mature age students but home-ed students have successfully used it to gain university entrance. The eligibility criteria states that you must be 23 years or older and have no qualifications from the last seven years that could be used as a basis for entry. It also states that people who are not eligible under this pathway may still apply as a non-year 12 applicant. This pathway involves applying through VTAC as a non-year 12 applicant (applications are online) and sitting either the SAT or STAT test in order to have a university entrance score. You need to register to sit the SAT or STAT yourself. You will need to achieve a comparable score with the VCE entrance score required for your course. The scores required vary according to course, university and application year. Your SAT or STAT score will be compared to the VCE enter scores required for your particular course. For example STAT scores of 150 in multiple choice, 155 in written English or a SAT score of 1968 were required for entry to a science degree with Melbourne university in 2008. STAT results are automatically sent to the university for you, if you use the SAT, you need to submit your results.
Applications open in August and close in September each year.

The American Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT).

The tests are run in Melbourne about once a month and many universities accept the SATs as a VCE alternative and they do give you a university entrance score. All the info is on the US site www.collegeboard.com Bookings are required about a month ahead in order to sit the test. Even if you are not paying for the online course you need to register on the website to book the exams and also you can do a free practice test online. They also have a book available with information on how to sit the exams, how they are marked and so on and it also includes about five practice tests. You can also sign up at the website to have the SAT question of the day emailed to you. The SAT has 3 sections: Critical Reading, Maths & Writing.

Special Entry Admissions Test (STAT).

Many universities accept the Australian STAT aptitude test for mature age entrants and other non-standard applicants. It and the SAT are ways to demonstate your ability and readiness to undertake university level study. There are two sections – one multiple choice which is mainly maths and one written English section. Find out more at the Melb Uni site and the ACER site.Vocational Entrance Programs have a STAT preparation course.

 

Individual University Entrance Procedures

Some universities have their own entrance exam. Some have an interview and portfolio process for accepting home ed students.

Access Melbourne Program

www.access.unimelb.edu.au/nsl
This program is designed to increase the participation of students from diverse backgrounds to Melbourne University.
Step 1: Apply for course via VTAC
Step 2: Submit an application for consideration under one of the categories for Access Melbourne
Step 3: Register to sit the STAT or SAT
Step 4: Submit your test results.
Home educated students have been admitted via this pathway under the disadvantaged social or educational background category. Check all the categories and see which you could apply under.

The Tafe Route

Many home educated students enter university via TAFE. They enrol in a TAFE course (e.g. in Information Technology) and then transfer to a university, often receiving credit for the TAFE work they have already completed.

Deakin University- Faculty of Science

Staff at Deakin University have expressed interest in recruiting home-ed students. This pathway has not yet been formalised but would involve a SAT test. To enquire, contact:
Dr John Long
Senior Lecturer
School of Engineering & Information Technology
Faculty of Science & Technology
Deakin University
Waurn Ponds
jlong@deakin.edu.au
Phone: 5227 2896

Courses in Self Study

As most of you know, things you are interested in require almost no motivation to learn. You can quite easily get yourself to quite a high academic level in your field of study through use of the Web and the many text books available. Often you will feel the need to find one-on-one teaching with an expert in your study area but these are not usually hard to find. Someone always has a friend of a friend who is a boat-builder, or web designer or journalist and most people are delighted to give a few lessons on their own areas of interest or expertise to someone who is keen. Once you have reached certain levels of competence, it is usually not hard to find an opening for a job or further education course.

Mature Age Entry

Some home ed students choose to work for a couple of years and then apply to uni as mature age students.

Online Options

Some people do entire degrees online and others use online university courses or Open Learning units to gain access to a on-campus degree. Two or four online units are usually sufficient to gain university entrance.

The On-Line University Courses

Many Universities world wide are now putting many of their subjects on-line. Monash www.monash.edu.au for instance also has many on-line courses available for members of the community as do other universities throughout Australia Check them all out. If you doubt that you are ready for university study, there are also online bridging courses available.

Open Universities Australia (Formerly Open Learning Australia)

Their motto ‘You don’t need to go to uni, to go to uni‘ Check them out www.open.edu.au

About Open Universities Australia

• Open Universities Australia is an organization that offers University subjects from fifteen leading Australian universities and Colleges to the general public on a user pays basis. These are regular university subjects, the same as students enrolled in full university courses would be studying and can be used as part of a university qualification.
• Subjects are studied externally using the internet and resources that are mailed to you. There are over 700 subjects to choose from.
• The minimum age for studying through Open Universities is 11 and there are no entry requirements for subjects (although some more advanced subjects may have prerequisites.)
• There are four study periods in the year beginning in March, June, September and December and each subject goes for about 13 weeks.
• They offer Unilearn bridging units, in areas such as study skills, mathematics, chemistry, biology and physics for people who wish to improve their skills before attempting a University subject in these areas.
• There is also a list of recommended first units for people who are just beginning their University studies.
• They also offer quickskills modules which give students information about things like time management and preparing for exams.
• Each subject costs between $610 and about $850 (less for Unilearn subjects). Fee Help is a scheme that may be accessed to help pay for this.
See also Studying Through Open Learning

Open Learning TAFE www.oli.tafe.net also has loads of courses to choose from and is well worth a visit.

See also Studying Through Open University