Domestic undergraduate application statistics at early bird closing 2020

Applications for tertiary study in 2020–21 opened on Wednesday 1 April 2020 and early bird applications closed at midnight on Wednesday 30 September 2020. (Students can still apply after this date, but they pay a higher processing charge.)

UAC received 69,602 domestic applications for undergraduate study in the first six months of the 2020–21 admissions year, 5,159 (8.0%) more than by early bird closing last year.

Download all the early bird closing statistics

Applications by applicant type

Applicants are divided into four types: NSW Year 12s, ACT Year 12s, Interstate and International Baccalaureate Year 12s, and non-Year 12s.

Applications at early bird closing by applicant type: 2011–12 to 2020–21

Gender analysis

The gender split of applicants continued to be similar to that of previous years: 57% of Year 12 applicants were female, while 60% of non-Year 12 applicants were female. For non-Year 12 applicants this represents a two percentage points increase in the proportion of female applicants.

Age analysis

As in previous years, almost all Year 12 applicants were 19 years old and under (99.7%). Around 73 per cent of non-Year 12 applicants were 24 years old and under.

Compared with last year, the proportion of non-Year 12 applicants older than 24 years has increased from 23 to 27 per cent. The breakdown by age group for non-Year 12 applicants is shown in the following chart.

Non-Year 12 by age group: 2020–21

First preference analysis

Domestic undergraduate applicants can choose up to five course preferences. Their first preference is the course they would most like to study.

First preferences by field of study and applicant type

The top five fields of study listed as first preferences by NSW and ACT Year 12 applicants were almost identical. Both groups had most first preferences in either Society & Culture or Health.

For non-Year 12 and interstate and International Baccalaureate Year 12 applicants, most first preferences continued to be in Health, followed by Society & Culture.

Overall, Health has again taken the top spot as the favoured field of study, with 28 per cent of early bird applicants listing it as their first preference. Society & Culture received 22 per cent of first preferences across all applicant types.

Field of study by first preferences and applicant type

First preferences by field of study and gender

Females and males had most first preference courses in Health, as it was last year. Similarly, like last year, the spread of first preference courses across fields of study was more even for males than for females.

Over half of female applicants listed their first preference course in either Health (33%) or Society & Culture (26%). In contrast, popular fields of study for males included Health (20%), Society & Culture (18%), Management & Commerce (15%), and Engineering & Related Technologies (15%).

Compared with males, a smaller proportion of females had first preference courses in Engineering & Related Technologies, Management & Commerce, and Information Technology.

Field of study of first-preferences courses by gender: 2020–21