Gen Z students flock to creative subjects at uni making ATAR requirements soar
Demand for courses like fashion is soaring, while HSC students are less willing to enrol in tricky science and health degrees. See how the ATAR requirements have changed.
NSW
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Gen Z HSC students are less likely to want to study academically demanding university subjects in the health fields next year at university while a growing number of them are hoping to pursue careers like fashion design.
The surge in popularity for courses like a Bachelor of Design in Fashion and Textiles at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) means students now need to score an almost perfect ATAR of 97.75 in their HSC exams as a bare minimum to get into the fashion school.
One psychologist said the shift is thanks to the fact Gen Z have been raised on the philosophy that everyone gets a trophy and might have “unrealistic expectations of their chance of success.”
The surge in demand for creative careers is expected to continue this year, with student university preferences revealing tricky science courses have also fallen out of favour with the HSC cohort of 2022.
The number of HSC students putting down creative arts courses as their first preference for university next year has increased from 4555 to 4635 while the demand for natural and physical sciences declined, going from 6201 preferences last year and just 5952 this year.
It is a similar story for students wanting to get into health courses where first preferences in those courses declined by 10 per cent in just one year alone, going from 19,114 first preferences last year to 16,847.
Over that same period education courses declined from 3878 aspiring teachers preferencing the course first declining to 3557.
Psychologist Clare Rowe said Gen Z were inspired by 18-year-old influencers on TikTok but said the much more mundane careers of being a nurse, a teacher or a police officer should be considered by young people if they had a genuine interest in those fields.
“Those occupations still need filling much more than these other occupations,” she said.
“There should be a message to kids to do something that you have a genuine interest in and parents should stick to that.
“But we have 18-year-olds who are our first generation who have come through the equality for everyone, everyone gets a trophy, everyone can succeed and win.
“It is not a healthy message for our kids that everyone will succeed in life, and not everyone in that fashion design course is not going to make it to a nationally or internationally known design brand.”
“There is going to be a lot of disappointment there.”
At the University of Technology, Sydney entry into a Bachelor of Design in Fashion and Textiles went from a cut-off of 90.70 in 2015 to 97.75 this year thanks to a surge in demand for the course.
By comparison, it is easier to get into a numbers heavy course like a Bachelor of Business. The growing unpopularity of that course has seen its minimum ATAR required for entry drop from 90 in 2015 to 85 in the past seven years.
At the University of NSW, a Bachelor of Communications has dropped more than five ATAR points between 2015 and 2022 as has Architectural Studies which now has an ATAR of 90.2.
University Admissions Centre general manager, marketing and engagement Kim Paino said when there was a minimum supply of places in a course but high demand, that drove up the minimum ATAR required to get in.
“The ATAR is essentially supply and demand driven, if you have minimal numbers of offers and a lot of students wanting to get into that program, it drives up the minimum ATAR,” she said.
“It is not really a reflection of the difficulty of the course or the value of the course.”
For aspiring designer Amy Mitchell, 23, she said studying fashion at UTS was her dream but said the ATAR should not be so high.
“It feels like you have to be perfect to get in,” she said.
She was aware that becoming a fully fledged fashion designer would be difficult because the industry is “cut throat” but she was up for the challenge.
“If I wasn’t doing fashion I don’t know what else I’d be doing,” she said.
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Originally published as Gen Z students flock to creative subjects at uni making ATAR requirements soar
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