Overall, entry requirements for nursing can vary considerably across universities across the state. As a result, it can be difficult to state a definitive score for entry, though in general you should aim for an ATAR between 60 and 90.
The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) is a score that is used to rank students based on their performance in their final year of secondary school. It is used as the main criteria for entry into most undergraduate university courses in Australia, including the Bachelor of Nursing.
For nursing, places like latrobe offer a pretty low ATAR (in the 50s?), but you could also do a diploma of nursing at TAFE. It's generally 18 months, and then you can enter direct into the second year of bachelor of nursing.
For non-rural students who do not qualify for any special access schemes, UNSW Medicine has an official ATAR minimum cut-off of 96.00, and no official UCAT ANZ cut-off exists. However, to have a realistic shot, your scores need to be higher than around ATAR 99.50 & UCAT 92%tile.
The ATAR is a number from 0 and 99.95 in intervals of 0.05. The highest rank is 99.95, the next highest 99.90, and so on. The lowest automatically reported rank is 30.00, with ranks below 30.00 being reported as 'less than 30'. Find out more about how ATARs are calculated.
The average ATAR usually sits at around 70.00. Why is this? Although an ATAR of 70 places a student in the top 70% of year 12 students overall, it only places them in the top 50% of students who get an ATAR (since certain students will not finish their year 12 studies).
In Australia, the lowest minimum ATAR required by a medical program is an ATAR of 90 (Monash University) or adjusted ATAR of 90 (University of Adelaide). If you're a rural student, you could also apply to La Trobe's medical program, which has a minimum unadjusted ATAR requirement of 80.
An ATAR of 75 is hard to get when you consider that only one in four people manage to do it. You can interpret this score as saying that 75 percent of people in the age cohort either didn't get an ATAR or scored lower. Only 25 percent, or one-quarter, of people did better.
What is the ATAR for Medicine in NSW and Canberra? For students wishing to study medicine in New South Wales, they will need to achieve an ATAR above 90 and in most cases in the mid-90s or even higher.
Rank, not a score
So an ATAR of 70 doesn't mean you got 70 percent – it means that you're in the top 30 percent of your year group.
Overall, entry requirements for nursing can vary considerably across universities across the state. As a result, it can be difficult to state a definitive score for entry, though in general you should aim for an ATAR between 60 and 90.
Requirements: ATAR 78 for full time studies. ATAR 87.02 for part time studies. ATAR for nursing is 78 for full time entry and 87.02 for part time studies.
The average registered nurse salary in Australia is around $79,550 per year (about $41,00 per hour. Entry-level positions start at $76,063 per year up to $97,568 per year.
Becoming a registered nurse (RN) is a straightforward process. After completing the HSC, you must study an accredited tertiary degree and then register as an RN through the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA).
Entry requirements for nursing degree courses vary because each university sets its own entry criteria, but you are likely to need at least two (usually three) A-levels or equivalent qualifications at level 3, plus supporting GCSEs including English, maths and a science (usually biology or human biology).
In NSW in 2020, the minimum aggregate required to score an ATAR of 90 or above was approximately 370, corresponding to an average scaled score of 37 per unit across 10 units.
So even if your test scores are lower than you'd hoped, if you're still ranked in the top 20% of students, then you'll receive an ATAR of 80. As long as you try your best with what you have, chances are, you'll do better than you expect.
An ATAR of 100 is impossible
Because the ATAR is a rank (not a percentage or mark) and it's measured in increments of 0.05 the highest ATAR you could get is 99.95.
Students who didn't receive the ATAR they needed can enrol in a number of open enrolment subjects available across a range of study areas—all available to start without entry requirements. Once you've completed these, you can use your passing grades to meet entry requirements for a full degree down the track.
Most universities also use other criteria when selecting students (eg a personal statement, a questionnaire, a portfolio of work, an audition, an interview or a test). The average ATAR is usually around 70.00.
Complete Year 12 & Any Prerequisites
ATAR scores form part of the entry criteria for the Undergraduate pathway. As entry into medical school is highly competitive, students need to achieve extremely high ATAR scores, often a minimum of 95+ (though higher to be competitive).
Step 5: Your ATAR is a ranking
Your top 4 scaled study scores (including English, EAL, Literature or English Language) are added together, along with 10% of your 5th and 6th study scores (if you did 5 or 6 subjects). Your ATAR reflects where your aggregate score ranks against every other student in the state.