As your child approaches the end of high school, it's natural to feel a mix of excitement and anxiety. The final year can be overwhelming for everyone. Your teen is preparing for exams, exploring career options, and navigating the transition once high school finishes – it’s a lot.
As a parent or caregiver, your support can make a significant difference. You'll want to have the right answers handy when your teen approaches you with questions like "what are the steps to apply for university?".
In this article, we’ll explain how to prepare for university and the key milestones throughout the year so you and your teen can navigate this crucial time together. We’ve broken it down into 3 key stages:
Early year (first term)
Discuss career options
When your teen is early into the first term of year 12, it’s a good time to discuss their career interests and goals together. Remind your teen of their SET plan and encourage them to talk with their school’s guidance counsellor or career adviser to ensure it still aligns with their future career interests.
SET stands for Senior Education and Training. A SET plan helps your teenager strategically select high school subjects that connect their interests, career aspirations, and potential higher education pathways. Read more: SET Planning: how to support your teen’s career goals.
If you live in or near Brisbane or a major city, consider attending career events and expos such as:
- UQ Career Pulse (April)
- Brisbane Careers & Employment Expo (June)
- TSXPO (July).
Research university programs together
Start looking into university programs that align with your child’s aspirations and narrow down the preferred institutions that offer those programs.
Explore university websites and printed guides or collateral with them and really understand the courses and features of their programs of interest. Look into:
- program structure and subjects
- learning environments (e.g. practical vs online learning)
- budget, student experience, and location
- entry requirements, including required ATAR scores.
Get invested in the journey and visualise what this experience will be like with them.
Mid-year (second and third term)
By the time mid-year rolls around, you and your teen will hopefully have an idea of their preferred selection of universities and programs. With QTAC applications looming in August, now is the time to ensure your teen will be ready to apply
Ensure entry requirements will be met
Prior to application through QTAC, make sure that entry requirements for your child’s preferred programs will be met. Entry requirements (including subject prerequisites) can vary quite a bit between programs (and between universities), so checking each one they are interested in is essential.
This is a good time to follow up on how they are tracking in their school subjects and if they may need additional support, such as a tutor or study group.
Additionally, make sure you’re aware of any extra application requirements, such as interviews, portfolios, auditions or exams. Often, these occur at set timeframes that are not flexible, so it’s best to be prepared ahead of time.
If your teen’s current Year 12 subjects don’t align with the subject prerequisites needed to gain entry to their dream degree, explore bridging courses that will help them fulfil this requirement.
UQ College's intensive face-to-face bridging courses in Mathematical Methods, Biology, Chemistry and Physics occur in November to December 2025. Applications to participate in these courses open in June 2025.
Discuss ATAR expectations
Meeting the required ATAR is just as important as meeting the prerequisites to getting into a desired degree. It’s important to approach this with sensitivity and support; however, discuss ATAR goals realistically.
It can be tricky to predict their ATAR and guess where universities might make the cut-off for each program.
For UQ programs, start by checking our guaranteed ATAR entry thresholds. These are provided for almost every UQ degree.
Make sure your teen understands that guaranteed entry thresholds aren't always final cut-offs, and that they can increase their selection rank with rank adjustments.
Review admissions schemes
Many universities offer various admission schemes to help students gain entry into their preferred programs. A student may be eligible to boost their selection rank based on the following:
- background and personal circumstances
- where they live
- the school attended
- the subjects studied at school.
Here are the main types of admission schemes at UQ you should know about:
- School Opportunity Scheme: Depending on the school attended, your child may be eligible for up to 4 adjustments towards their selection rank.
- Rural Access Scheme: If your family lives or has lived in a rural area, your child could receive 2 adjustments toward their selection rank.
- UQ Link Program: Support is available for families experiencing significant financial challenges through programs like UQ Link, which also includes 5 adjustments to the recipient's selection rank.
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Admission Scheme: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students automatically receive 5 additional selection rank adjustments.
- Undergraduate Law Admission Scheme: Special entry pathways exist for law programs, particularly supporting students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds and culturally diverse communities.
- Subject Incentive Scheme: If your child is studying certain subjects in Year 12, they might qualify for up to 5 extra selection rank adjustments.
- Educational Access Scheme: If your child has faced challenges that affected their studies, they may qualify for additional support through QTAC's Educational Access Scheme.
Pre-plan preferences
As the application period approaches, it’s helpful to have a clear strategy for university preferences. Encourage a balanced plan to approach this with your teen. QTAC recommends the following:
- Discuss their top 2 dream programs.
- Explore 2 backup options they'd be genuinely interested in if they don’t get into their top 2.
- Consider 2 pathway programs that could lead to their ultimate goal.
Bookmark the QTAC Key Info webpage so you can stay on top of when your teen needs to submit all their supporting documents to be eligible for specific offer rounds.
Talk about pathways
If your child needs extra support to meet the entry requirements for their desired programs, it’s a good idea to explore plan B (and C and D). If they don’t get the results or ATAR needed to get into their dream degree, it’s not the end of the world; there are many pathways to university study.
The most common pathways for high school leavers are the following:
- Tertiary studies pathway: Studying a different UQ program can help a student improve their entry score or meet the subject prerequisites for their preferred program, which they can apply to transfer into, usually after a year of university study.
- Bridging studies: Intensive short bridging courses over 4 weeks can help students satisfy subject prerequisites. A full bridging program such as the Tertiary Preparation Program can help them gain a new selection rank (to replace a low ATAR), meet subject prerequisites and prepare for university studies.
Read a more detailed breakdown of pathway options based on the entry requirements students must meet.
Attend university open days and information events
July through August is the university open days season in Australia, as tertiary admissions centres (QTAC in Queensland) generally begin taking university applications in August/September.
University open days are the perfect chance to get a feel for what it’s like to study at a particular institution. Visitors can take part in campus tours and explore facilities, attend presentations and information sessions, ask questions of experienced staff, and participate in activities.
Events typically take place on a weekend, and parents are welcome to accompany their teens to open day for added support. To find out the university open days in your state, visit your local tertiary admissions centre’s website.
UQ's 2025 Open Days will occur on Sunday 3 August at St Lucia campus and Sunday 17 August at Gatton campus.
UQ also hosts a specific parent information session, typically in late July. 2025 dates are coming soon, so keep an eye on our Events webpage for more information.
Apply through QTAC
QTAC applications open early August. It’s time for your teen to submit their preferences.
QTAC help: does your teen understand the application process?
Investigate scholarship opportunities
Many students miss out on scholarship opportunities simply because they don’t know about them. A scholarship can ease the financial pressure of attending university and boost your child’s experience.
You may be surprised at how many types of scholarships are available. UQ has scholarships for a wide range of criteria, such as academic and sporting excellence, rural and regional living, financial disadvantage and much more.
Students may be eligible for a scholarship for a specific program or study area. There are also opportunities to enhance the experience of students from diverse cultural backgrounds or regions.
Start by searching university websites for information (UQ has a whole website dedicated to our scholarships).
Find other financial support
While investigating scholarships, it may be a good time to see if your teen is eligible for other government financial support for students, such as:
Find out more about government-assisted financial and study support and student payments.
Explore accommodation options and apply
If your child is considering moving away from home for university, start investigating their accommodation options. Support their independence while offering guidance such as:
- Discuss living options (on-campus vs off-campus).
- Get familiar with how university accommodation works.
- Help research accommodation costs and student-friendly suburbs.
- Contact the preferred accommodation provider to enquire about availability and apply for residency.
- Plan to travel to visit the accommodation ahead of time.
Student accommodation can be competitive to secure. If your teen has their heart set on on-campus accommodation at a particular university, we'd recommend beginning to explore accommodation options in Term 1 of Year 12. Most on-campus student accommodation providers open applications for rooms well before ATARs are received and university offers sent out.
Late year (final term)
You’re on the final stretch of the year. Though there’s still a lot to get through, the light at the end of the tunnel is truly in sight now. This is the time to keep the momentum going while taking measurements to ensure goals can be met without burning out.
Prepare for exams and final assessments
With this last term of school, there is bound to be some stress surrounding completing final exams and assessments. You can ease the pressure during this time by reinforcing good study habits and implementing methods to manage stress and keep up motivation levels.
Help your teen manage stress and stay motivated with these strategies:
- Make sure they have a quiet and calm study space that minimises distractions.
- Create a study timetable that incorporates breaks, time for sports, and other regular activities. This will also help them establish good study hygiene once they take that next step to university.
- Discuss expectations and offer reassurance. Have honest conversations about exams and final outcomes. Confirm you’re on the same page when it comes to their goals and achieving the required results to get into their dream program. However, reassure them of their pathway options should they not achieve their goal.
- Make sure they’re looking after the basics. Eating right, exercising, getting quality sleep and still making time to see friends and attend regular activities will help ease stress during this time.
Plan a break
After a demanding year, everyone can benefit from a holiday to look forward to. Whether your teen is headed to a schoolies event (and hopefully you’ll get some well-deserved peace and quiet at home) or you’re planning a family holiday together, having something to celebrate post-exams will keep up energy levels.
Receive ATAR results
Time to breathe a collective sigh of relief. Mid-December is when ATAR results are released. Once your teen receives their ATAR, they can proceed with their planned university applications or:
- make adjustments to QTAC preferences
- consider the pathway options you’ve discussed.
If students need help with their pathway options after receiving their ATAR, they can come along to UQ’s ATAR Advice event, which is always held online the Sunday after ATARs are released.
A note about early offers: Many Queensland universities participate in early offers, but most of UQ's offers go out in the late December and January main rounds. Instead of early offers, UQ provides an ATAR guarantee. This means as soon as a student finds out their ATAR, they’ll know whether they’re guaranteed an offer for their preferred program at UQ. Find out more about early offers.
Respond to offer
Congratulations, you’ve made it through a huge year together, and your teen has received their university offer (or offers). The main offer round for QTAC applicants looking to begin study in Semester 1 at university is usually in early-mid January.
See a full list of QTAC offer rounds.
There are 3 ways to respond to a university offer through QTAC:
- outright
- conditional, with no change of preference
- conditional, with change of preference.
If your child has received an early offer, they may consider the “conditionally accept” option if it isn't for their first preference program. This means if they receive another offer for a higher preference program in a later round, they can accept that offer instead.
Make sure you and your teen are aware of how QTAC university offers work.
Year of commencement (next year)
Prepare to commence university
Once your teen has made and settled on their study choice, the next level is unlocked. You can now prepare for university commencement and all the excitement that comes with that. Give them and yourself a pat on the back for making it through this challenging time together.
Supporting your child through their final year of school and into university is a major milestone for any parent. While the process may seem overwhelming at first, breaking it down into manageable steps throughout the year makes it more approachable for everyone involved.
Want to know more about supporting your child to commence university? Read our tips on helping your teen transition from high school to university.
