Enter --- What is it ?

ENTER is an acronym for Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank. It is a ranking that allows VCE students to be compared.

The ENTER is used in selecting students for tertiary courses. Nearly all courses use ENTER for selection but only about half of the courses use it exclusively to select the large majority (about 80%) of students. Additional information is used in selection for those whose ENTER is too low to be automatically selected by ENTER – students said to be in the “middle band”. Other criteria depend upon the particular course and can include interviews, detailed analysis of the VCE results, special consideration or results in particular graded assessments.

The ENTER is a number between 0 and 99.95 in intervals of 0.05. It is an indicator of where – effectively as a percentage – a student came in the relevant age group. It reflects the entire age group including those who left school before completing the VCE. The calculation is a method agreed to by all Australian states.

The ENTER required for particular courses varies from year to year because it is a product of supply and demand. If better quality students apply for the same number of places, the ENTER required for that course will rise, for example. If the university makes more places available for a particular course, the ENTER required will probably drop. There are many other factors that affect the ENTER required for particular courses. However, it is probably correct to say that the ENTER for the more prestigious courses stays about the same the every year.