Creative Arts: ATAR entry scores versus graduate outcomes

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Courses in Creative Arts encompass everything from visual arts, music and theatre, design, graphic arts, media and photography. Thanks to growth in the digital space, more artists now work in corporations as well as in studios, with a significant number of those qualified in creative arts working outside specialist creative organisations.

It’s relatively well known that Creative Arts courses require some of the lowest ATAR scores of any field. This year, data from The Good Universities Guide calculated an average ATAR requirement of 72, with 12 courses having ATAR cut-offs below 55. 

When compared to the national average, graduates of Creative Arts courses are also some of the least employed in the country. After three months since graduating, just 53% of students reported having full-time employment — this is the lowest employment figure of any field of study. 

While it’s common to link a course with a low ATAR cut-off to a poor graduate outcome — as the above figures indicate — it’s important to look a little deeper. When you look at individual universities, many have outperformed the national average for graduate employment. A low ATAR cut-off will often overshadow the other entry requirements for creative arts courses, such as auditions and portfolios. 

Take Charles Sturt University for example: graduates recorded an average employment rate of 66.7%, which is actually 13 points ahead of the national average. It’s also higher than the national average for Science graduates (62%) and Psychology graduates (63%). 

In fact, there are 13 Australian universities that outperformed the national average. Between them, these universities reflect a diverse range of graduate and employment opportunities. 

Click here to access our analysis of ATARs for Creative Arts courses and be sure to check out The Good Universities Guide’s graduate employment ratings. 

* Salary and employment data have been sourced from pooled results of the 2017, 2018 and 2019 Graduate Outcomes Survey. 

 

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