| 11. Decisions at the time of offerOf the original 937 respondents, 538 replied to an
invitation to complete a small second questionnaire that was distributed in February 1999,
after most applicants had received offers and settled on a course. The questionnaire
focused on any changes in decision—or indecision—in the period between the
initial application and prior to offer, and the reasons for these changes. It also asked
applicants about their decision-making made on the basis of the actual offer and the
reasoning behind it. Of the 538 respondents to the second survey, 433 were school-leavers.
Among these, the academic results of 38 per cent were better than they had expected,
43 per cent were about what they had expected, and 18 per cent were below what
they had expected.
A little over half the respondents (53 per cent) were offered and accepted their first preference. Even among these there were last minute doubts about the appropriateness of this preference. Of the sample, 29 per cent of those successful in being offered their first choice at some stage reconsidered and contemplated an alternative. In the main part this doubt appears to stem from a drop in confidence, either associated with having the capacity to see a long or academically tough course through to its completion, or to do with achieving the necessary entrance results:
Over one-third reported receiving better academic results than they had expected. For some this caused a reconsideration of their preferred course; however ultimately only 4 per cent of those who changed from their original preference (47 per cent of the sample overall) did so because of higher results than they had anticipated:
This contemplated change is usually to a closely comparable course in another university. Many applicants clearly perceive an institutional hierarchy of some kind, one in which the implicit ranking of institutional prestige is closely associated with entry scores. As one student wrote, ‘My ENTER was better than I thought, so I considered going to a uni with a higher score’. And another:
Other applicants are watchful of the decisions of other students in the ‘market’:
At the other end of the spectrum, 63 per cent of the applicants who changed preference did so because their academic results where not high enough to be offered their first preference, or, much less frequently, an interview had not led to their selection. For many this outcome was not unexpected, for it was a result of a degree of ‘brinksmanship’ in their initial application. In these cases the offer of second or third preference was usually a quite acceptable compromise: a similar course in a closely allied field. Rarely was the compromise in field of study—once again, gaining access to a preferred field was the central objective for the overwhelming majority—but more often involved acceptance of a less preferred course at another institution. Overall, 47 per cent of applicants who did not get their first preference course indicated they had accepted a similar course in another university, while only 24 per cent reported enrolling in a different field of study in the university of their original preference. People in this latter group sometimes opted for a related course at the same university. Quite a number of respondents indicated that accepting this second preference was a desirable outcome because they were aware of later year transfers into their original first preference course:
The comments of students who accepted a similar course to their first preference course but at another university indicate that the compromise for them is often to do with location and transport (the university is further from home), with the status of the course/institution (the university is perceived as less prestigious), or with less flexibility in specific subject options within a roughly similar course.
A minority of applicants have fewer choices in the usual meaning of the word. These are the applicants who in the competitive allocation of places do not receive high enough academic results to be considered for the courses they would choose if entry were based solely on personal preferences. The following respondents offered these reasons for choosing the course they were finally offered:
Overall, 70 per cent of applicants who did not receive their first preference course indicated they were satisfied or very satisfied with their final outcome, including, for some, not entering tertiary study. Only 13 per cent of this group were clearly not satisfied with the choice they eventually made. As Table 11.1 shows, applicants in their final stages of application and decision-making are most likely to draw on personal sources of advice, such as family, friends, and teachers, as well as the guides of tertiary admissions centres. The marketing activities of universities appear to affect the thinking of a relatively small number of applicants during the final stages. Table 11.1 Applicants’ sources of information in 1999 and the extent of their influence
Note: * 5 point scale |
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Contents Any comments or queries should be sent to: highered@detya.gov.au |
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