DAMON Herington relished "the grind" of preparing to sit his Higher School Certificate written exams.
"For me I kind of thrive off the grind, to be honest, even these past couple of weeks have been pretty boring for me because I'm not waking up every day with something pressing to do," he said.
"I enjoy that, but at the same time I don't think I could jump straight back into it in February. For me and a couple of my friends, the pressing nature of it, they just aren't ready to jump back into it yet."
The St Philip's Christian College Newcastle captain received an early offer to study a combined law degree at the University of Newcastle (UON), but has chosen to defer it to spend a year travelling and working in the United Kingdom and Europe. He topped the state in the Entertainment Industry exam as an accelerated student in 2021 and hopes to work in the sector.
"My personal opinion is people feel too rushed to go to university, the whole system kind of pushes you have to go to uni and I just feel like I want to go and expand my perspective a lot more by going overseas for a year," he said.
"I don't think one year in the scheme of many years is much and it's going to be a good investment [in myself]."
Damon's experience is being reflected across the region, as an increasing number of students eschew the traditional timeline of receiving their ATAR, waiting for the main round of university offers and starting tertiary studies the following year.
A rising number are receiving early offers, either directly from institutions, or under the Schools Recommendation Scheme (SRS), which the Universities Admissions Centre administers on behalf of institutions.
Several are taking gap years, some deferring early entry offers or university plans to do so.
Some want to travel, but others want to take advantage of the healthy job market.
Students are also opting for TAFE courses - including some they started at school - and to use these qualifications to enter the workforce or as an alternative pathway to university.
Universities make offers through the SRS using criteria other than - or in addition to - the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, or ATAR.
UAC made 15,746 offers to students on November 11 under the SRS, including to Damon Herington.
This is up from 15,100 at the same time in 2021 and 12,407 in 2020. It made another 1400 SRS offers on December 8.
UON Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic, Professor Mark Hoffman, said UON had received more SRS applications and made 16 per cent more offers to students through the first round of the scheme than last year.
"Some of the top programs for offers through the SRS program include Exercise and Sport Science, Biomedical Science, Primary and Secondary Education and Laws (Honours) Combined," he said.
"We know that the past few years have been particularly difficult for our high school students and we have seen an increase in students who are deferring. Perhaps most concerning, the toll taken by several years of COVID has seen a falling number of students completing year 12 in 2022.
"For those who do continue, we know many are uncertain about their future. While we won't know the final impact of this trend until we pass census date in March, we must address this challenge with urgency, not only for the young people of our regions but also to support our future as a nation."
He said students struggling to decide their next step should reach out to UON, with enabling programs such as Open Foundation providing a pathway to degrees.
UON Vice Chancellor Professor Alex Zelisnky said last week the university "under enrolled" by 1000 the number of domestic students who commenced this year.
He said there had been a decline in the number of school leavers and non school leavers listing UON as their first preference next year.
St Philip's head of senior school Joshua Whiddon said students were more aware than ever before of the range of pathways into university and careers.
"More than what I would have expected a few years ago young people are seeing what other options are out there and not taking the traditional school, university and just getting into the grind of where life ends up taking them," he said.
"They're really contemplating 'What can I do?' and reassessing what they do and looking at every possible option available to them."
He said of this year's 114 year 12 students, 18 were doing the school's HSC SmartTrack program, which includes vocational courses and on-the-job training but not an ATAR.
He said of the others, about 50 per cent had received an early offer directly from an institution by the time they were sitting their exams in October, up from about a third the year before.
He said many accepted it if it was their dream degree, but others waited to see how they performed in the HSC and other rounds.
"By and large they weren't feeling the level of pressure about it being a make or break exam," Mr Whiddon said.
"Some of them still were because some of their courses depended on some of their results, but some of them were receiving unconditional offers. They still confront it with a sense of maturity and did their best but it's not like they were, shall we say, feeling the weight or the pressure of it.
"Every student is different and responds differently, some students the weight and pressure causes them to perform better, for some students that weight and pressure is a distraction and lifts anxiety."
Mr Whiddon said around 90 per cent of students had received an early offer following the first SRS round.
He said others were waiting for the main round or planned to enrol at TAFE or join the workforce.
Damon said of his peers who had received early offers, about half planned to study next year while the other half had deferred because they wanted a break or hadn't decided what they wanted to pursue.
He said some had originally planned to take a gap year but after receiving an offer had opted to start their studies.
He said his early offer helped him feel "secure", but he was keeping his options open and seeing what he may receive in other rounds.
He is looking to Sydney or Melbourne.
He said early entry had "opened a lot of doors for a lot of people" and some peers felt "relieved" because they hadn't felt confident about the exams.
Students will receive their ATARs on December 15.
The first offers based on ATARs will be made on December 22.
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