Your step-by-step guide

Applying to Macquarie based on your academic and extracurricular merits.

Preparing your application

2. Select relevant activities

Decide which of your activities best fit the leadership requirements. For each one, provide:

  • names of the activity and organisation
  • outline of your tasks/responsibilities (max 500 characters)
  • time committed; either
    • number of days (one-off activity)
    • hours per week/number of months.
3. Prepare your referees

You will need a school referee (eg principal, careers adviser, year adviser) plus referees for each of your activities.

  • Obtain each referee’s name, position, telephone and email.
  • Notify them that Macquarie University may contact them.
  • Supplementary written references are not required.
4. Prepare your reflection

What skills and qualities have you developed and how have you achieved personal growth and/or made a positive impact on others? How will you apply this at Macquarie University? (Max 1000 characters, in full sentences).

Consider:

  • What did you learn about yourself?
  • What was the most challenging aspect and how did you overcome it?
  • How will your personal growth and the skills you have gained from these activities shape your approach to university study at Macquarie?
  • How has your participation positively impacted individuals/your community? What impact do you see yourself making on the Macquarie University community?
5. Submit your application

Ensure you use a personal email address to apply, not your school one. You should receive a confirmation email from us after applying. Check regularly for updates on your application.

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Special requirements

  • Applicants for teaching courses are required to complete a questionnaire as part of the application. An offer will not be made unless this questionnaire is passed.
  • Applicants for the Bachelor of Actuarial Studies and its double degrees are required to undertake NSW Year 11 Mathematics Extension 1, or equivalent.
  • Applicants for the Bachelor of Marketing and Media degree are required to undertake Standard or higher level Year 11 English and Mathematics, or equivalent.

Learn about subject equivalents for interstate courses and IB diploma courses.

When writing your responses to the teaching questionnaire, consider the following prompts.

  1. Tell us what has inspired you to become a teacher and tell us why you think teaching is a good career choice for you.
Describe who and what has inspired you to become a teacher and describe the types of skills and abilities you will bring to teaching.
  2. Describe one or two leadership, community and/or learning and development activities that you have engaged in.
Describe how these leadership, community and/or learning and development activities demonstrate your conscientiousness and coping strategies when you are faced with challenges.
  3. Describe how you manage your time when you are both planning and coordinating activities in your personal schedule.
Provide examples of how you have put both your planning and coordinating skills to use.
  4. Tell us about one or two times where you have utilised your problem-solving skills to achieve an outcome.
Explain what you learned, regardless of whether the outcome you achieved was positive or undesirable.

Application tips and FAQs

More information to help you be as prepared as possible.

New South Wales Higher School Certificate or interstate equivalent

Students studying the New South Wales HSC, or interstate equivalent, will have their Year 11 results accessed via the New South Wales Education Standards Authority (NESA), or the interstate equivalent authority.

Students studying other interstate equivalents must upload their Year 11 results together with their application. Results will need to be provided by the closing date for the corresponding round they are applying for.

International Baccalaureate (IB)

Students undertaking the International Baccalaureate (IB) must upload their Year 11 school results together with their application. Results will need to be provided by the closing date for the corresponding round they are applying for.

You may only list activities undertaken during Year 11 and/or Year 12.

However, you may include activities that you started before this time and continued during these years.

There will be no cap on the number of students at the University level who will be admitted through this scheme. Caps will only exist at course level when there are government, legal or other logistical restraints (clinical placements etc).

No. You can apply for other schemes too, eg the Schools Recommendation Scheme (SRS).

An offer made via this program also does not prevent you from receiving offers to other courses through other entry schemes.

If you receive an offer under this scheme, you no longer need to include that course in your UAC preferences for SRS and the main offer rounds.

You need to reflect how your activities link specifically to your decision to apply for a degree at Macquarie University and how you can make a positive contribution to the Macquarie University community.

Examples might be:

  • My volunteer work as a cataloguer at the museum has inspired me to take a Bachelor of Archaeology – especially ancient languages and archaeology techniques. I am choosing Macquarie because the University is a leader in this field. I see myself contributing to better understanding of the ancient world. Very few universities offer a degree focused on archaeology.
  • I am from a lower SES background in a regional community. It’s challenging to participate in community activities and manage my essential work commitment too. There’s limited opportunity. I hope to contribute to the Macquarie community by making it just that little bit more diverse, so my fellow students know there is life outside the city limits and that students from low SES backgrounds can excel at University when given the chance. I see myself exploring lots of opportunities to join student societies and meet new people, build meaningful relationships for life and build my learning skills.
  • My activities include competitive hockey over some years. I wish to continue playing hockey whilst I study. The facilities at Macquarie are great – and I’ve already played on them, so I am choosing Macquarie that blends the subjects I want to do with access to sporting facilities as well as social and competitive hockey.

If an error message prevents you from continuing your application after the Leadership and Community Activity section, you may have used some special characters that the system does not accept.

Please follow the instructions below and review your responses.

For Organisation name and your Tasks/Responsibilities fields, the following characters are allowed and valid:

  • English alphabet (A-Z) and numbers (0-9)
  • Only these special characters: ~!@#$%^&*_-+=`|\(){}[]:;"'<>,.?/

Please remember that these characters have to be entered manually from the keyboard, not copied and pasted.

Referee details, such as their Name and Position fields, must begin with an apostrophe or a valid UPPERCASE character [A-Z] only.

You can revise some parts of your application, such as your personal details.

Course preferences

Once your application is submitted, you will not be able to change your preferences. We encourage you to carefully consider the courses you wish to study and list them in order of preference.

Leadership and community activities

Make sure you are happy with your responses to this part of the application. Once you have submitted your application, you will be unable to change your responses.

Late submissions

You cannot submit after the closing date, so we recommend applying as early as possible.

Accepting your offer

We advise accepting your offer within two weeks of receiving it. Accepting does not mean you are locked into that course; it simply allows you to secure your place. You are still able to receive and accept multiple offers through UAC or other early entry programs.

Enrolling in your course

We recommend only enrolling once you are sure which degree you wish to study.

Can my offer be revoked, eg if I don’t meet my course’s selection rank?

A Macquarie Leaders and Achievers scheme offer is assessed based on your application, so your senior secondary exam results and ATAR won’t change the outcome of your application through this program.

It is a requirement of this scheme, however, that students complete their Year 12 schooling successfully, including Year 12 examinations (or assessments as determined by NESA or equivalent), or an International Baccalaureate Diploma in 2024.