Students seeing double in 2014

The University's new Flexible Double Degrees are a big hit in 2014.

Offered for the first time this year, Flexible Double Degrees allow students to mix their courses across a range of study areas.

At the close of the main round offers, around 1,000 new students have been offered places to study Flexible Doubles, representing one third of the undergraduate offers for 2014.

"A Flexible Double Degree allows a student to take one degree for their head, and one for their heart," says Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington.

After the main round, 3,060 domestic undergraduate places have been offered to students to study at ANU, an increase of 208 from last year.

Tessa George, 18, has passed up scholarships at other universities to study at ANU. She has been offered a Flexible Double Degree in either Law or Arts/Social Science/Business Science.

Tessa says she's torn between the two options, but has always been interested in International Relations.

"Throughout school I've always been really drawn to the humanities," she says. "I also did French for four years in high school and have always been interested in travelling and politics."

Andrew Palm, 18, has two choices, in either Interdisciplinary Studies or Science.

"I'm still tossing up what major subjects I'm going to choose but at this stage it looks like the maths, physics, chemistry area, which is a pretty interesting area and it opens up plenty of options," he says.

"Earth science and geography are the courses I've been looking at. The whole area of sustainability is pretty topical."

Andrew says he's also looking forward to the social aspects of his time at ANU.

"There's heaps of new people to meet, heaps of new friendship groups to get into and there's so many people studying here with similar interests to you. So it's pretty hard to go wrong in terms of what you can do outside your subjects. There's so many opportunities. It's really exciting."

Kayla Smurthwaite, 18, has been offered a place to study Medical Science.

"I'm just really interested in pursuing a degree in the medical field, particularly in medical research and pathology," she says.

"I've lived in Canberra my whole life and it's one of the top universities in Australia so I might as well use that to my advantage.

"There's a lot of good clubs involved in the University and just getting to know new people who  have come from all around the world would be quite cool."

Professor Hughes-Warrington says the introduction of the Flexible Double Degrees follows the introduction of Vertical Double Degrees in 2013, marking ANU out as a national leader in double degree design.

She welcomes all new students for 2014.

"The number of students offered places at ANU demonstrates the University remains a popular choice, due to its strong academic reputation and relaxed student lifestyle," says Professor Hughes-Warrington.

Read more about the Flexible Double Degrees.