THE THOUGHT OF the Leaving Certificate is enough to bring a shiver down the spine of anyone of us lucky to be finished with it. Ever had that dream that you’re sitting it again, only to wake up in a cold sweat with the relief that that time is over?
Well, being a parent of a Leaving Certificate student is no holiday either – managing to bring them nutritious study snacks and umpteen cups of tea without at least one throwaway sarky remark can be a miracle.
And that’s before you even mention those all-important three letters – CAO. Knowing what you want to do for the rest of your life at 18 is no easy feat, and trying to figure it out while studying for 10 or so exams is even harder.
So here’s how to ensure that they are in the best position to find a course (and eventually a career for that matter) that they’ll really love.
This is an important distinction to make: what your kids do well in doesn’t necessarily reflect what they’re going to love learning about. When hours of dissertations and studying for finals sit in front of them, it’s not what they’re good at that will keep their attention – it’s what interests them.
It can be worth even looking at the types of subjects they’re interested in – if they love English would they do well at Journalism? If they’re good at debating is it worth looking into Law? Finding their passions is key here.
Looking to your child’s hobbies can be a brilliant way of finding a course that they’ll love. If they’re the first to pounce on the ‘style’ section of the paper, might they suit a course in fashion?
If they tend to do better on the sports pitch than they do in the classroom, then why not think about a degree in photography with a view to becoming a sports photographer? Or you could look into journalism or sports psychology career routes too.
It might seem like a paradox, but one of the most important aspects of work experience in Transition Year is finding out what your son or daughter doesn’t want to do. Talk to them about their experiences both during fourth year – did they get a taste of an industry that piqued their interest?
If they’ve had a part-time job it can also be a good starting point. Are there particular elements that they loved or despised about that job? Perhaps they’d be better with something more technically-minded like computer science, or maybe they crave contact with people and would do great in a BA in Journalism and Visual Media?
Sometimes it can be tempting to automatically be inclined to gently push your children in the direction of where you or your partner went to college, or towards the nearest college in your area. However the college can be just as important as their course choice within it.
Think about what kind of an environment that they’re likely to do well in – do they need small class sizes or would they be happy enough in a larger college? Will you need to look into the accommodation options too, and if so is there on-campus living available? These things will suddenly become important when the time comes to start.
Sure, we all look at the general descriptions in the prospectus, but how many of us actually take the time to have a look at the modules offered? Is it likely they’ll have to take a subject they will struggle with in first year? Is a course more academic-focused or practical? It’s worth going to the subject page on the site to find out a concise breakdown.
It’s also very much worthwhile to check out if there are work experience placements available – for industries such as the media and business, this can be key in kickstarting your career or getting your foot in the door to some of the biggest companies.
No matter what CAO points your children end up getting, some courses require you to get specific grades in specific subjects – just so that you’ll definitely be able for the actual contents of the course once you get in.
For courses in education, is a minimum result in Irish required for example? Or for a language course, do you need to have achieved a particular grade? Make sure you’ve read the fine print. Every college has dedicated admission teams – and at this time of the year they are happy to take a call and answer any queries you might have.
No matter what happens during those incredibly important few weeks when exams are actually going on, it’s worth having options. Research if a particular college offers a few similar degrees and make sure they’re down on your son or daughter’s CAO choices.
If points are going to be a real issue, it’s also worth considering if there’s an alternative way into the degree that they want. Can they do a science-based degree before they study medicine, for example? Or a certificate that might lead them into a degree? There are always options, no matter what their academic level.
This might sound like obvious advice, but it can be some of the most important advice of all – when helping them fill in their CAO form, advise them not to rank their choices from highest points to lowest, but in order of actual preference.
Points can fluctuate each year depending on their popularity so it’s important that they don’t end up getting their first choice just because the points happened to come down, but because it’s what they genuinely really want to study.
No matter what your son or daughter chooses to study in college next year, Griffith College offers 50 undergraduate courses in subjects ranging from Business, Computing, Design, Engineering, Journalism, Media, Law, Accountancy and Education. They also have campuses in Dublin, Cork and Limerick, meaning they won’t have to travel too far from the nest…
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