What Happens If I Don’t Get the ATAR for My Course?

As we approach the end of the year, I notice the same question coming up again and again from students:What do I do with my ATAR? And more specifically: what happens if I don’t get the score I need?

I wanted to write this one because I genuinely wish someone had said it to me when I was in Year 12. Not the “your ATAR doesn’t define you” line — we’ve all heard that one, and while it’s true, it’s become a bit of a trope at this point. What I actually want you to walk away understanding is something more concrete: your ATAR doesn’t influence your capacity to complete any degree. That’s the part that doesn’t get said enough!

So let’s actually talk about what your options are.

Bridging courses

If you didn’t get the prerequisite subject for a course — say you needed Maths Methods for an Engineering Degree — you can do a bridging course. It’s typically just one semester; it’s not particularly difficult, and it gets you where you need to go. Not a big deal at all.

Internal and external transfers

This one is underused and underappreciated. When I deferred my first semester of uni to go travelling, I came back and found that the majority of people in my law degree had not gotten in via their ATAR in the first place. Most of them had transferred in. It shocked me a little bit because I knew transfers existed, but I didn’t imagine the intake of students transferring in would be so large, and it inherently opened my perspective on ATAR entirely!

Here’s how it typically works: you start a double degree - say Law and Commerce. You do well and get a WAM of around 80 or above, and then you apply for an internal transfer into your desired course. Done. If you want to go to a different university entirely, the process is slightly more involved, but a strong WAM (like ATAR or GPA) will generally get you there.

The craziest part is that if commerce is already part of your double degree, you haven’t lost any time at all. You’ve just done the units in a different order. The total time is the same. The ATAR didn’t slow you down — it just changed your starting point :)

So what should you actually do?

Do your best. Full stop. Not because your ATAR defines you, but because you still have to show up five days a week regardless — so you may as well give it everything you’ve got. There’s no worse feeling than half-assing something and spending years wondering what you could have achieved if you’d actually tried.

And if, despite your best efforts, you don’t get the score you were hoping for — that’s okay. More than okay. The pathway still exists. It might look slightly different from the one you imagined, but you will get there. That I can promise you.

As always, thank you for reading. I genuinely love writing these, and I love hearing from you — if there’s a topic you’d like me to cover, drop it in the comments or send me a message. I’m always keen to keep you in the loop.

With much love,
Yahav