Eighty-seven per cent of students from Daylesford Secondary College gained first-round offers and 79 per cent of these won places in courses which were their first choice.

The University of Ballarat, La Trobe University in Bendigo and Melbourne University were the most popular choices for the students.

Principal Heather McIntyre said it was gratifying to see the excellent results last year rewarded with the opportunity to pursue tertiary education in their chosen fields.

"It is a fitting culmination for their years of dedicated study at the college and the efforts of their teachers over those years," she said.

Students successfully applied for courses ranging from architecture, law. engineering through to interior design and radio and television broadcasting.

Chris Adkins, 17, accepted his first-round offer for a physiotherapy course at La Trobe University in Bundoora.

"I was about two-and-a-half points under the ENTER score but got accepted," he said.

Kristy Ingham, 18, was persistent enough to gain an offer in an interior decorating and design course at Gordon Institute of TAFE in Geelong.

"I kept calling for interviews and presenting my folio," she said.

Those students who missed out on a place now face an anxious wait to see whether they can secure a university place when second-round offers come out early next month.