Special IB Diploma Entry Scheme and Mid-Year Applications to Australia
Spotlight: Melbourne University

Australia is an attractive place to study for International IB Diploma students, especially as IB Diploma recipients are highly valued as potential university applicants. During our Branksome virtual campus visit, the University of Melbourne (QS world ranked #41) decided to try and attract more IB students through a special offer. The offer involves granting guaranteed acceptance to students with specific IB diploma scores. With Melbourne’s permission, we have placed a copy of the scores needed to gain entry in a selection of specific courses below.

Having a guaranteed entry based upon IB scores is quite beneficial for an IB Diploma student and quite revolutionary for such a highly ranked university. It must be noted that this guaranteed score entry scheme will only be available for mid-year and regular University of Melbourne applications for the next year. Even with this great potential offer, to many IB students, Australia is simply not thought of as a possibility due to the different school year schedules.

Being located in the southern hemisphere, the Australian higher education school years are not aligned with the universities in the northern hemisphere. As a result, typically northern hemisphere students will start applying in the Fall or Spring of their Grade 12 year and then start university in August or September. In Australia, students begin applying in September and October and the first day of university is in February or March and the first semester ends in June. The second semester starts in August and ends in mid-December. So northern hemisphere graduates would have to wait nine months after their graduation before starting at university in Australia. The vast majority of international IB students, armed with other collegiate offers, simply do not choose to wait.

It is important to note that universities in Australia have been accepting international students at mid-year for a while now. By applying to the universities in mid-year, international students can start in August, with just a minimal wait. Being able to apply at the mid-year point, combined with the new guaranteed score offer of the University of Melbourne (Mid-year application information link) could make Australian schools a far more interesting choice for international IB diploma students.

If you have any questions about Australian university options, please feel free to contact the Branksome Hall Asia University Counselors. The Branksome Hall Asia University Counselors

Lee Sterling III on behalf of the University Counseling Team