At CQUniversity, we know that there are many paths towards an undergraduate degree. You don’t need to have recently finished high school or have received an ATAR to apply to study with us. If you completed or left high school more than two years ago, your work and life experience could be used to obtain an entry score to use in your application to study with CQU.

There are several options for obtaining an entry score, known as a selection rank, for your application. Depending on your work and life experience, you may be eligible for multiple entry scores, and if that’s the case, the highest one will be used to assess your eligibility for your course.

In addition to meeting the entry score requirement for your course, you may also have to satisfy prerequisites. Check your course page for full entry requirements.

Your entry score

If you received a Year 12 result (OP or ATAR score) this result does not expire once, you have left school and can be used when you apply to study with CQU.

Additional qualifications that you completed while at school could also be considered, such as your Senior External Examination results.

If you have completed eight university units or a complete degree you will receive a selection rank.

Other formal, post-secondary professional and paraprofessional qualifications could also provide you with an entry score (including some creative arts, language and civil aviation qualifications, memberships of professional associations for which qualifying exams are undertaken, and police, and emergency defence force service).

If you have completed an AQF Certificate III, Certificate IV, Diploma or Advanced Diploma you will receive a selection rank. Visit our TAFE and VET qualification page for a guide to the selection ranks allocated for this study.

If you are an applicant with work experience, generally this means that you will have more than six months of work experience, in paid employment. Your employment experience does not need to relate to the course you are interested in. Your work experience may be used to help you gain a selection rank and this selection rank that may be used on your application.

As part of the process, you will need to document your employment by providing a statement from your employer outlining the role you performed. If you are self-employed, this statement will need to be provided by your accountant, solicitor or tax agent. Find out more about including work experience in your application including how experience is assessed, and how to document your employment.

Not all courses accept work experience as an entry pathway, so check your course page or get in touch with us to find out what the best entry pathway option is for you and your course of interest.

Apply via the relevant Tertiary Admission Centre or application portal as outlined in apply undergraduate or on your course page.

The Special Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT) may be an option if you do not have formal academic qualifications. The STAT is a two-hour aptitude test, that tests your readiness and ability to undertake further tertiary study and provides you with a selection rank that may be used on your application.

Age restrictions do apply, find out more about sitting the STAT.

Not all courses accept a STAT result as an entry pathway, so if you are thinking of sitting the STAT contact us to find out whether it is the right entry pathway option for you and your course of interest.