Ararat district students are set to take on their next stage of their education following the release of TAFE and university offers for the class of 2016.
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Across the state more than 54,000 first round offers for courses were made on Wednesday.
For Ararat’s Marian College student Olivia McColl, her next step came down to a choice between two very different areas.
The keen musician and Ararat City Band member was offered a place with music courses in Melbourne.
However, a reluctance to move away from Ararat saw her investigate other options, which led her to a Diploma of Nursing with Australian Catholic University in Ballarat.
Olivia said the course would allow her to continue working in Ararat.
“It is good because it is close to home and I get to keep my jobs and stay home for year and a half,” she said.
“I found out about the nursing course at the ACU open day and it seemed too good to be true.
“I would have liked to do music, but the offers I got were with music schools in Melbourne and I wasn't prepared to move away, so I have decided to postpone the music and do nursing instead.”
Earning a place in the course required writing essays, numeracy and literacy tests.
Sixty applicants were cut back to the successful 25 who were offered positions.
Olivia said she wants to return to music and find ways to incorporate it into a nursing career in the future.
“I plan to do music in the future and possibly go into music therapy to help people with disabilities,” she said.
Ararat College student Izzie Pope decided to take a different path to her post school life.
Unsure about what course would best suit her goal of studying environmental science, she decided to first take a gap year before starting her study.
Izzie said this would allow her to decide what course she wanted to study.
“I just had so many options coming at me after school that I decided to have a gap year to sort out what I want to do,” she said.
“I am looking to go into environmental science to work on sustainability, so everywhere I look there are different options for that.
“There are lots of courses that aren't specifically environmental science that still have a big focus on sustainability.”
Izzie said she had been offered places with courses in Melbourne and Ballarat, but she would take a year to continue working her school jobs in Ararat.
“I will have a year to practice being an adult before I go to uni,” she said.
Students can now wait on the next round of offers or change their VTAC preferences.