DENTAL science is one of the most popular courses at the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Orange campus, which has experienced a 16 per cent increase in demand this year.
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The subject was joined by other allied health courses such as physiotherapy, pharmacy and clinical science as the most popular subjects listed at the campus, which made 281 offers to 519 applicants when the main round university offers were released across NSW on Wednesday night.
All CSU campuses had increased demand this year.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Toni Downes said the increased student demand in Orange came from students wanting to study locally or for its medical-based courses.
“Orange, in particular, has a major focus on health and [those subjects] are always in major demand in regional areas,” she said.
However, not all applicants were selected into the course of their choosing and Professor Downes said there would be more offers, multiple pathways and opportunities for those who missed out in the main round to realise their long-term goal.
Harry Roth and Paige Wallace are among relieved former high school students in Orange to be selected for their preferred university course in the main round offers.
Mr Roth, who completed his HSC at Orange High School in 2015 said he logged on to find out where he had been accepted as soon as the offers were released at 6pm and got into the Bachelor of Communication (Media Arts and Production) at the University of Technology, Sydney.
“I was fairly confident I was going to get it, there was a bit of space there in my ATAR [Australian Tertiary Admission Rank] for the course from last year but the ATAR for the course crept up a bit this year,” he said.
Miss Wallace, who attended James Sheahan Catholic High School in 2015 was accepted to study Law and International Studies at Wollongong.
“We only get one offer in the main round so I’m happy with that, I was glad I got Wollongong, something that I really wanted for my first preference,” she said.
Michael Cunial and Daisy Thompson who studied at Orange Christian School last year said they avoided the stress of waiting for the main round offers by being granted early acceptance.
tanya.marschke@fairfaxmedia.com.au