VTAC Personal Statement

What is the VTAC Personal Statement?

The VTAC Personal Statement is available for applicants to provide to selection officers relevant information that is not collected as part of the VTAC course application. It allows you to provide information about your:

Motivation for study
Work experience
Community experience
Academic performance
Languages other than English
Other relevant information

You may outline any circumstances that have affected your academic performance in your VTAC Personal Statement; however, if you have experienced any circumstances of disadvantage you should also consider submitting the Equity schemes (SEAS) and scholarships application.

Should I complete a VTAC Personal Statement?

The VTAC Personal Statement is available only to those applicants who are applying for courses that require it.

If you are not applying for courses that require the VTAC Personal Statement, it will be unavailable in your VTAC account.

How to submit a VTAC Personal Statement

1. It must be a requirement of at least one of your course preferences

If it is not a requirement of any of your course preferences, it will be unavailable in your VTAC account.

2. Log in to your VTAC account

To access the course application you must log in to your VTAC account. The VTAC Personal Statement becomes available once you lodge a course application.

3. Open the Personal Statement

If the Personal Statement is required, it will be listed on your dashboard in your Checklist. Click on ‘Complete additional tasks’, then the ‘Personal statement’ button on the following screen.

4. Fill in the form

There are four sections that make up the VTAC Personal Statement. You only need to fill out the sections that are relevant to your course application.

Note that each section has strict character limits (letters, spaces and punctuation marks), not a word limit. Keep your responses brief and to the point to avoid going over the character limit.

4.1 General statement

Use this section to explain your motivation in applying for tertiary study. You might also like to describe your current field of interest and any future employment goals you have. Your answer in this section should be generally applicable to all of your course preferences. Comments directed to specific course preferences can be entered in the last section of the form.3.2 Work and community experience

Use this section to provide details of all work and/or community experience relevant to your course preferences. You will be asked for details about your roles including where and when you held the role and the duties your performed, with space provided for you to make comments on each role. If you wish to direct comments to specific course preferences, identify the course in your comments. You will also be asked to provide details of at least one referee (maximum of three) who can comment on your work or community experience.

4.2 Work and community experience

4.3 Academic performance

Use this section to provide details about any past or current academic performance relevant to your course preferences, briefly outlining the exact circumstances (whether positive or negative) and how they affected your academic performance.

Please note that this section is not used for special consideration. If you have experienced any disadvantage during your studies you should make an Equity schemes and scholarships application.

4.4 Other languages

This section will ask about languages you are familiar with other than English. You will be asked how many additional languages you understand, what they are and how you would rate your ability to speak, read, write and understand each one.

4. Submit your VTAC Personal Statement

Click on 'Submit/save changes' to complete the process. You will receive a transaction number confirming your submission.

Tips for completing the VTAC Personal Statement

Check the character limits

Each section of the VTAC Personal Statement has strict character limits. Before you start writing your responses, open the form and make note of the character limits that apply to the sections you want to complete.

Prepare a draft before you start

Once you have started filling out your VTAC Personal Statement it is not possible to save a draft. It is a good idea to write a draft of your responses first so that what you ultimately submit is written to the best of your abilities and includes all relevant details. Writing a draft in advance will also help you make sure your responses fit within the character limits.

You can only submit one VTAC Personal Statement

The majority of your Personal Statement, such as your general statement, work experience, and language proficiency, should be broad enough to cover all of your course preferences. You can use the last section to direct specific comments to individual courses. You can also check if the institutions have any specific requirements regarding what to include. See individual institution pages and adapt your statement accordingly.

Make changes to your VTAC Personal Statement

After you submit the VTAC Personal Statement, you can view and edit your information until the closing date. See Dates and fees. Note though that course selection authorities may access your information earlier for selection in early offer rounds.