After a nervous wait over summer, tens of thousands of school leavers found out on Tuesday whether they had been accepted into their preferred university course.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But fewer students received a first round offer, although more school leavers are vying to study at university.
The first round of offers revealed students are flocking to nursing, Victoria's most popular university course has become easier to get into and medicine remains the most competitive degree.
A total of 52,973 students received a main round offer in 2018, compared with 54,045 last year.
This came as the number of Year 12 leavers applying for university courses rose for the fourth consecutive year to 50,464 students.
The hardest non-scholars course to get into was Dentistry at La Trobe University's Bendigo campus, which demanded an ATAR of at least 98.90.
The most competitive course was Medicine at Monash University.
A total of 1576 school leavers put the subject as their number one choice, but only 185 received an offer on Tuesday.
- The Age