The first day of the rest of the your life – getting through ATAR release day

So today's the day huh? The day you sit apprehensively at your computer or stop everything you’re doing mid stride and stare at your phone as the 2025 ATAR results are released. Today is the day you find out if you worked hard enough, or you should have worked harder, if today is the first day of your career and your future, or the start of a year of confusion and misdirection.

Well, we have news for you. No matter what happens, today is the start of your future, and regardless of the score you see on your computer screen, you have a lot of really great options.

For many of you, the last year will have been about hard slog, eyes on the books, study, study, study. But for others, Year 12 is the first time you really find your feet socially, heading out to parties, spending a lot more time with friends and generally just enjoying a bit more freedom from your parents. Unfortunately, sometimes that freedom can get the better of us and things like partying, dating and even alcohol and drugs can get in the way of our carefully planned-out study routine.

If you’re apprehensive about today’s results, the best thing you can do is be prepared. Know that ATAR day is not going to be the most important day in your life – there are plenty of those yet to come – and that a lot of people who have gone before you with less-than-expected scores have become highly successful and happy.

Being prepared is all about really knowing those other options you have. It’s thinking about which ones may be exciting to explore – that way if your score isn’t what you hoped, you have a bit of a plan for the next year, and if it is, you’re pleasantly surprised – and you can decide if you stick with uni or maybe try out that plan B for a year and give yourself a break from studying. To kick off your prep, here are some of the many options you may have if your ATAR isn’t what you were hoping.

Uni: there’s always a way!

If you didn’t get the score you need to make it into your course of choice, you have a number of options. First of all, if you have your heart set on the uni you’ve chosen, do a bit of exploring and find another course with a lower score that you will be able to get into. After kicking off in this course, you may like it so much you decide to stay in it, or you can look at transferring into your career of choice. Secondly, why not think about another uni? Some universities have higher admission score requirements than others – for the same course! Check out some universities online and see if you can do your course somewhere else with a slightly lower ATAR. Finally, many universities accept mature-aged students without needing to see your ATAR, depending on your scores and study history – this means you can work for a few years, save up some money, and then study after you turn 21.

Kick off your learning

If you don’t want to find a round-about way into uni, consider filling your year with a short course that is either something that really interests you, or which may get you some RPL or credit in the uni course of your choice in the next year or so. You might want to look at a TAFE short course or Diploma, or check out the many other accredited schools. Word-to-the-wise, if you will be looking for RPL or credit, make sure the school you choose is accredited.

Life: have one!

One of the biggest and growing Aussie traditions is a gap year overseas. Aussies travel more than people from almost any other country in the world. We adventure, explore, party and really make the world our oyster. Why not get yourself a summer job that can earn you some quick cash, and then leave the Aussie winter behind to embrace the sunshine of other countries – do some volunteer work in Asia, sail in Croatia or trek the steep inclines of Machu Picchu in South America.

Whatever you decide to do, a gap year not only helps you understand the world a bit more, but gives you valuable experience communicating with and getting along with people from various socio-economic and racial backgrounds – travel is an experience many employers will see as a plus in the future.

Kick off your career now

Being well connected and having a network of influential associates is sometimes just as important in building a career as your qualification – but for many of us, starting to build these connections doesn’t occur until we finish uni and enter the workplace.

In missing out on your uni course of choice this year, you still have an opportunity to go into a business in your field of choice, entering right at the bottom and starting to build your career – in some fields, this may even give you an advantage in the long run. While your mates are slogging it out at uni, you could be employed in a junior reception role for that engineering firm of choice, working hard, showing what you’re made of and impressing people, so that later on, after you’ve been able to go to uni, you know the right people to really get your career started. If you’re a really promising and hard-working employee, you may even find the firm will let you keep your job part-time when you go to uni, giving you a clear path back into the organisation once you are qualified.

You don’t have to know what you’ll be when you grow up right now

Most important to remember is that right now, at 17 or 18, you don’t have to know what you want to be when you grow up – there are a lot of 30, 40 and 50 year olds who still have no idea! Don’t think that the decision you make today and the course you enrol in next year – if you do one – will dictate the rest of your life (despite what your parents say!). Regardless of your ATAR, you live in a great country with a lot of choices and opportunities and there is no need to decide right now what title you hope to have on your business card when you’re 40! This is just the first day of the rest of your life!

Best of luck from NCPIC to everyone who will find out their scores today and over the coming week. This period can be really exciting, but can also be daunting. If you are feeling anxious or depressed and can’t talk to anyone around you, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14. If you feel drug use, such as marijuana use, may have affected your score and is possibly even still affecting your life and future, please call our supportive team at the cannabis information and helpline on 1800 30 40 50.