Application FAQs

What are the application requirements?

You need to have successfully completed Year 11. You can also choose to supply optional brief statements outlining your personal circumstances and motivation for university study, which may help improve your selection rank.

Who can apply?

All current domestic Year 12 students who completed Year 11 in Australia, including International Baccalaureate (IB) students, can apply for the ACU Guarantee program. You must be working towards receiving an ATAR or equivalent to be eligible.

What can you study?

All undergraduate degrees are available through this scheme for 2026 entry, except those listed below. Please note, where a campus is listed below, it is only this campus where the course is not offered. These courses may still be available through ACU Guarantee on other campuses where the course is offered and will be available at all campuses via QTAC/VTAC or UAC.

How many places are available?

Some courses have limited spaces. These are courses where we have to monitor numbers closely because of registration quotas or limited field placements. We will offer some places through ACU Guarantee for these courses and reserve some for the offer rounds through UAC, VTAC and QTAC. If you don't receive a place in these courses through ACU Guarantee, you can still apply for that course in the regular TAC process.

• Bachelor of Midwifery*
• Bachelor of Nursing
• Bachelor of Nursing/Business Administration
• Bachelor of Occupational Therapy**
• Bachelor of Speech Pathology***

Will offers be based solely on academic results? Will factors other than academic results be considered?

As part of our commitment to removing barriers to university participation, the following factors will be considered alongside your academic results to calculate your predicted selection rank:

• Do you live in a rural or regional area?
• Are you attending a school that has a strong relationship with us?
• Do you identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander?
• Are you the first person in your family to attend university?

You can gain up to a maximum of 10 adjustment factors across all these categories (each is worth up to five adjustment factors towards your selection rank). Please note, these are the only adjustment factors considered for this scheme.

You can also provide up to three personal statements (maximum 200 words each) outlining your circumstances and motivation for university study. We will assess these statements while we are calculating your predicted selection rank. You will address, and your statements will be assessed against, the following:

• Impact through empathy: how you have given back to your community, eg charity work, volunteering, contributions to local networks helping those in need.
• Impact over adversity: how you have overcome financial hardship, personal illness or disability, or disrupted or disadvantaged schooling.
• Impact for family: how you have excelled in school in Australia if you are from a non-English speaking background, a refugee background or you have a lot of family responsibilities.

Each of these statements can add three points to your selection rank. Your selection rank can be adjusted by a maximum of 10 points.

Statements are assessed on content, not language skills. If you access assistance from advisors, tutors or AI technology to complete your personal statement, please ensure that your submission accurately reflects your personal situation with regards to the criteria.

Check out some hints for completing your personal statement.

Do I have to meet course prerequisites?

Yes, if your course has prerequisites other than English, you will have to meet those. If your application is successful and your course has prerequisites other than English, you will receive a conditional offer. This offer is conditional on you successfully completing the prerequisite subject/s. Once those prerequisites are completed, your offer will be converted to an unconditional offer at the next major offer round. The courses offered through ACU Guarantee that have prerequisites are below. Click on the course name to visit our course browser, which details the prerequisites (entry requirements) for the upcoming semester intake.

Ballarat Campus

• Bachelor of Occupational Therapy

Brisbane Campus

• Bachelor of Biomedical Science
• Bachelor of Biomedical Science/Bachelor of Business Administration
• Bachelor of Biomedical Science/Bachelor of Laws
• Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood and Primary)
• Bachelor of Education (Primary and Secondary)
• Bachelor of Education (Primary and Special Education)
• Bachelor of Education (Primary)
• Bachelor of Education (Secondary and Special Education)
• Bachelor of Education (Secondary)
• Bachelor of Education (Secondary)/Bachelor of Arts (Humanities)
• Bachelor of Education (Secondary)/Bachelor of Arts (Mathematics)
• Bachelor of Education (Secondary)/Bachelor of Exercise Science

Canberra Campus

• Bachelor of Occupational Therapy
• Bachelor of Speech Pathology

Melbourne Campus

• Bachelor of Biomedical Science
• Bachelor of Biomedical Science/Bachelor of Business Administration
• Bachelor of Biomedical Science/Bachelor of Laws

North Sydney Campus

• Bachelor of Biomedical Science
• Bachelor of Biomedical Science/Bachelor of Business Administration
• Bachelor of Biomedical Science/Bachelor of Laws

Do I have to complete the personal statements?

No, you do not have to include any statements. You can also choose to include one, two, or three statements. The benefit of including statements is you can be awarded adjustment factors which can help your selection rank. Each statement is worth up to three adjustment factors, and you can receive up to nine adjustment factors.

What if my Year 12 results turn out better than my Year 11 results, or I change my mind about what I want to study?

Even if you have applied to ACU Guarantee (whether you were successful or not) you can still apply for university admission via QTAC, UAC or VTAC based on your Year 12 results.

You can apply for a different course, or the same course. You can also change your ACU Guarantee preferences throughout the application period (21 July – 15 September 2025).

How can I apply?

You apply via the ACU Guarantee Portal on our website.

Will I have to upload any documents?

You may need to upload your results, depending on where you go to school. Results for NSW and ACT students will be uploaded automatically. IB students and students in all other states (such as Queensland and Victoria) will need to upload their Year 11 results to the portal.

If we were unable to assess the results uploaded to your ACU Guarantee application, you will need to complete the ACU Guarantee Supplementary Assessment form. The information provided will be used to calculate an ACU selection rank so you can be considered for an offer.

Download ACU Guarantee Supplementary Assessment form (PDF File, 142KB)

Download ACU Guarantee Supplementary Assessment form (Word File, 182 KB)

Is there a charge to apply?

No, it is free to apply to ACU Guarantee.

Can I select more than one course?

You apply for only one course at the time of application. However, you can change your course throughout the application period at any time.

If I apply for ACU Guarantee, can I still apply to other universities?

Yes. Applying to ACU Guarantee does not exclude you from applying to other universities.

If I get an offer from ACU Guarantee do I still need to list this course as my preference in my state's tertiary application portal (VTAC, UAC or QTAC)?

This depends on where you live. If you are a Victorian student, you will still need apply through VTAC as you normally would to receive an offer in the VTAC December offer round. In Victoria, ACU can only finalise your offer if you list the course as the highest eligible preference making an offer to you. The good news is we will already have assessed you so there is no waiting or worrying about whether you will get in.

If you live in Queensland, NSW, ACT (or any other state besides Victoria), then you are not required to apply through your local TAC (UAC or QTAC) in addition to applying for ACU Guarantee. An exception to this is if you're concerned that your Year 12 results will be better than your Year 11 results, so you would like your Year 12 results to be considered. In this case, you can apply to your TAC as usual, but please note while it is free to apply to ACU Guarantee, TACs do charge a fee for applications.