Early Admission FAQs

Applications open on Monday 16 June 2025.

Through this program, we assess more than your ATAR—we'll look at your year 11 results, your individual skills and experiences to give you the opportunity to secure a place at UOW before your final exams.

Receiving an early offer means less stress and more certainty about your future, so you can focus on finishing Year 12 knowing you’ve already secured a spot at one of the world's best universities that values you beyond your results.

Early Admission FAQs

UOW Early Admission is our early offer program for students finishing Year 12 in 2025 (HSC or other Australian equivalents). Instead of relying solely on your final year 12 results, we consider your Year 11 performance, skills, and experiences—giving you the chance to secure a place at UOW before your final exams even begin.

Applications will open on Monday, 16 June, and will close at 5pm on Friday, 8 August.

Late applications will not be accepted and UOW will not be able to offer any extensions. If you miss applying to UOW during the Early Admission period, you can still apply to UOW. Please see our Apply page to find the admission process that’s right for your situation.

To apply, you must be:  

  • In Year 12 in 2025; and 
  • Completing the HSC, an interstate equivalent, or the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma at an Australian high school; and 
  • Eligible to be awarded the Higher School Certificate, IB Diploma or interstate equivalent. 

Students in their final year of HSC Pathways are also eligible to apply. 

If you aren’t eligible to apply to UOW through Early Admission don’t worry, there are many other admission options available. Visit our Apply page to find the admission process that’s right for your situation.

Students studying in the Big Picture program should apply directly to UOW. See other entry options for more information.

Applications will only be accepted via the UOW Early Admission website between Monday, 16 June and Friday, 8 August 2025. 

All Year 12 students subscribed to the UOW Future Student Newsletter will receive a notification once applications open.

There are six steps to submitting your application:

  1. Registration: Provide personal/contact details and relevant information. NSW/ACT students will also enter their NESA number. In this section, you can also indicate if you've faced significant hardship affecting your marks in years 11 or 12.
  2. Additional Details: Opt in to receive more information on UOW offerings like scholarships and accommodation.
  3. Qualifications: If you entered your NESA number, your year 11 marks will be pre-populated, and you won't need to do any more in this section.
    You may need to manually upload qualifications as PDF documents if:
       - You're applying from interstate.
       - You're studying via a compressed curriculum structure.
       - You're studying the International Baccalaureate (IB).
  4. Course Preferences: Enter one or two UOW courses for consideration. You can search for courses using keywords, study areas, or UAC codes. Changes can be made until 5pm, Friday, 8 August.
    Use the UOW Course Finder to find the right courses for you.
  5. Questionnaires: Respond to four questions related to UOW’s Indicators of success: Academic Readiness, Motivation & Passion, Communication & Collaboration, and Planning & Persistence. Each answer has a 500-character limit (including spaces).
  6. Review and Submit: Review your application, read the Early Admission program conditions, then submit. 
    You can edit any part of your application after you submit it; if you do make sure to submit it again after making any changes.

The application itself remains the same regardless of the Australian state in which you're completing your Year 12 studies. 

If you are studying Year 12 in QLD, VIC, SA, or WA, you are eligible to apply through the UOW Early Admission website. When applying from one of these states, you will need to upload your academic grades from Year 11 and your application will include a template for submitting your grades. Please ensure you allocate enough time for this process, as applications will not be accepted after 5pm on Friday, August 8, 2025.

Once all sections are complete and signed by relevant parties, upload it into the application portal by 5pm on Friday, 8 August, 2025. 

If you are a NSW HSC or ACT Year 12 applicant, you will be asked to provide your NESA number (issued through your school) and UAC PIN. Supplying this information allows your Early Admission application to be pre-populated with details such as your Year 11 results, which will simplify the application process.

If your final year of schooling is based on curriculum other than NSW HSC or ACT Year 12, or you are completing the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma, you will need to upload your results using the template provided in the Early Admission portal. These templates will be on the website after Early Admission opens.

UOW takes a holistic view of your application and considers a range of factors, including: 

  • Year 11 subject performance 
  • Whether you have experienced challenges that have impacted your performance in Year 11
  • Your written responses to UOW’s indicator of success questions

Applications consider factors including your Year 11 academic performance and your responses to UOW's Indicators of Success.

Some degrees have other criteria, check the degree you are interested in for details.

If you are applying for a:

You can select up to two UOW degrees in your Early Admission application. Double degrees are considered to be a single preference. 

Start looking for the right course for you now

The UOW Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation has a separate application process. Contact UOW or visit our website for more information.

Yes.

You can edit any part of your application until 5pm on Friday 8 August by logging back into the application portal.  

If you want to make a change after Early Admission applications close on 8 August, you will need to submit an application through Universities Admissions Centre (UAC).

Successful Early Admission applicants will receive an official UOW offer in the week beginning 1 September 2025.

If you receive an Early Admission offer, you will not need to accept the offer immediately. There will be a place for you in the course/s that you are offered, and we will be in touch when it’s time to start your enrolment. 

We will communicate with you via email to make sure you know what you need to do and when.

We will need to contact you after you leave school and into 2026, so please use a personal email address (not your school-allocated email address) that you check regularly.

As part of your Early Admission application, you will need to respond to the following questions in writing. You will have 500 characters for each question – including spaces.

  • Academic Readiness: What are your study strategies when preparing for an important assessment task? 
  • Motivation and Passion: What has influenced your decision to pursue your course or courses of interest? 
  • Communication and Collaboration: Describe a time when you worked with others to achieve a goal. 
  • Planning and Persistence: Tell us about a time when you set yourself a goal and worked hard to achieve a good result?

Having some examples ready will help you get started on your answers when Early Admission opens and to prepare you can start thinking about:

  • those accomplishments that you are most proud of,
  • the teams or social groups you have been a part of,
  • what career you hope to have and why; and
  • the personal goals that you have set for yourself, either academically or in your extracurricular activities.

For further tips, check out 7 tips to complete your application

No.

If you submit your UOW Early Admission application by Friday, 8 August 2025, you won’t need to reapply through the main round UAC process.

You can apply for up to two UOW courses through Early Admission. If you're interested in more than two, you may also want to apply via the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) to include additional courses. UAC applications for 2026 open on 2 April, with Early Bird applications closing in September 2025.

Most degrees at UOW do not have pre-requisites for entry* and, as such, there are generally no specific subject criteria for Early Admission. UOW takes a holistic view of your application and considers a range of factors, including: 

  • Year 11 subject performance 
  • Whether you have experienced disadvantage that has impacted performance in Year 11
  • Your responses to UOW’s indicator of success questions

*The following degrees require commencing students to have completed Mathematics Advanced (not Mathematics Standard 2) or higher at Year 12 level:

The following courses require commencing students to have completed Mathematics Extension 2 or equivalent at Year 12 level:

No.

Early Admission applications will be assessed based on their application and will not be required for an interview.

We will update this page with more information as we get closer to application opening on Monday, 16 June, 2025. You should also sign up to our Future Student Newsletter so that you can stay informed throughout the process.

Additionally, we will be holding various information sessions and events throughout the year, including Early Admission info sessions at one of UOW’s Open Days at Wollongong campus on Saturday, 28 June and Liverpool campus on Saturday, 26 July. Check out our Upcoming Events page for more information.

UOW’s Student Privacy & Disclosure statement states that information about a student’s application cannot be disclosed to a third party without written and signed consent. 

As part of the Early Admission application, applicants (Year 12 students) will be able to enter the details of a person who they authorise to act on their behalf. If they choose to name someone, that person – and that person only – can also be provided with information about the student's application. 

If you are a parent or guardian seeking information regarding a student's application and you are not listed as an authorised person on their Early Admission application, you will need to ensure a consent to release form is completed before we can respond. When completed, the consent form may be sent via email to futurestudents@uow.edu.au.  

This consent to release form covers students when they are applying for UOW. Once they are enroled, they are considered a current student, and a new updated consent form will be required.  

Our Future Students team are available Monday to Friday from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm

Phone:   1300 367 869 (or, +61 2 4221 3218 if you're calling from overseas)

Email:     future-students@uow.edu.au

The team are experienced staff; most of whom have who have previously studied at UOW and can share their insights and past experiences.  

Meet Lochie

My aspiration was to learn the nursing profession from its foundations. To achieve this, I enrolled in the Diploma of Nursing after receiving an Early Admission offer. I am from Tamworth and my first time in Wollongong was the Early Admission congratulations event and I knew from that point it was the place I wanted to be Lochie Diploma of Nursing

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