Dear year 12s, may I be the first to congratulate you on completing your VCE, VCE(VET) or IB exams! Well done for surviving this period of intense study. I’d also like to congratulate your parents. Parents of year 12s; bravo!

Now what? Sure, there’s Schoolies. Sorry parents of year 12s, that was uncalled-for. But it’s only a week, and so long as they’re in Byron Bay, where there is a well-oiled machine in place to handle it, they’ll be ok. If you’ve let them go to Bali; fingers crossed.

So next there’s the issue of surviving the Christmas period and the remainder of the summer. Question, does he/she have a holiday job? Christmas Casual? If not, good luck again. Your wallet is set to be raided and your peace and quiet disrupted. My recommendation? Wake them up the morning after the last exam (alright, give them 24 hours in bed) and get them on the computer, writing a resume and cover letter to every major retail/hospitality company you can think of for part-time casual work. You’ll thank me.

Once they’re back from Schoolies, it wont be long before they receive their exam results. For VCE students, that’s before Christmas and for IB, it’s not til January. Again, brace yourselves and call me if they are in tears. Remember, there is a solution for every problem, all you need to know is how to find it.

Now to the question. When will your graduating year 12 child receive his or her higher or further education course offer. The short answer is that many year 12 graduating students, not all (and of course not IB students as they will not have received their results), might get an early offer in the new December offer round. Please refer to this handy VTAC web page for all dates.

This is a lovely thought. Just think, if they know what they’re doing in 2020 they can relax over Christmas and not be worrying over the roast turkey. Personally, I think VTAC and the universities are super considerate to be trying this new offer round, even though it makes it busy for career coaches. We don’t mind, honestly!

So, most universities are participating in the December offer round and that is what career practitioners have been advised. In fact, career practitioners have been cautioned to continue to consider the January offer round as the MAIN offer round. This is because some universities and TAFEs may have opted out of this offer round completely for administrative reasons.

Also, some courses will not be included in the December offer round. For example, a friend who applied to Monash University may receive an offer into their course of preference, but that does not mean to say that everyone who applied to Monash will receive a December offer, as the course they want a place in might not be offering places until the regular January offer round. Put simply, some courses at participating institutions may not be included in the December offer round.

If you or your graduating year 12 child is worried about offers, please contact me as soon as possible. I can be reached at [email protected]

Finally, to steal the much over-used cliche, Keep Calm and Carry On!