THE FIRST ROUND of CAO placements have been published, offering 82,175 places in college, university or another educational institution to 55,221 applicants.
Round One offers must be accepted online by 3pm on Monday 13 September. Round Two offers will then be released at 10am on Monday 20 September.
Demand for third level places has risen significantly this year, and many courses have seen a rise in points as a result.
An additional 4,600 places have been made available for incoming third-level students this year.
Of the offers given today, 24,758 (50%) Level 8 offers are for the applicant’s first preference course, and 39,063 (79%) Level 8 offers are for one of their top three preferences.
29,365 (89%) Level 7/6 offers are for the applicant’s first preference course, and 32,314 (98%) Level 7/6 offers are for one of their top three preferences.
Individual institutions
Courses across the board have seen an increase in points on last year, with four courses now at 625 points.
Management Science & Information Systems and Dental Science in Trinity College Dublin are both at 625 points this year.
UCD’s Economics & Finance course is also now at 625 points.
Dentistry in University College Cork has also seen its points rise to 625.
Trinity College Dublin has seen a number of other courses exceed 600 points since last year.
Pharmacy is up from 590 to 613 points, Human Health and Disease is up from 565 to 601 points and Physcology is up from 567 to 601 points.
Points also rose for Global Business (613, up from 589), Computer Science (566, up from 509) and Law & French (602, up from 565).
Likewise in University College Dublin, several courses have climbed above 600 – Biomedica, Health and Life Sciences (613, up from 590) and Physiotherapy (601, up from 578).
Demand for similar subjects at Dublin City University was also up, with points rising for Business (511, up from 488) and Accounting & Finance (544, up from 510).
Points rose significantly for Engineering common entry, shooting up from 422 to 511.
NUI Galway also saw points rise in subjects such as General Nursing (502, up from 476), Biomedical Science (613, up from 556) and Occupational Therapy (601, up from 555).
Points for post-primary teaching courses also increased, up 30 points in DCU to 518, up 24 points in Marino Institute of Education to 508 and up 57 points in Maynooth University to 564.
Maynooth University has welcome a strong demand for its courses amount this year’s applicants.
The University will this year see its first-year numbers grow to over 3,500 students.
‘Other ways to achieve your goals’
Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris has offered his congratulations to students who received their first round CAO offers today.
“This has been an incredibly challenging year for students, and I’m glad to say that more than 4,600 additional places have been created in higher education for them,” Harris said.
“I hope that these places will help alleviate some of the pressure on those who wish to progress into higher education,” he said.
Harris added: “I want to take this opportunity to remind students that there are so many different pathways available as you prepare to take the next steps in your life. Education is a lifelong journey and there is a huge range of options for you to develop knowledge and skills, and achieve your full potential.”
The Minister said that PLC and apprenticeships “are just some of the options available”.
“I really want to encourage students to take some time to consider the pathways that suit you,” he said.
“Take a minute, breathe and look around. There is far more out there than you think, and it’s important to remember that there are other ways to achieve your goals.”
CAO Communications Officer Eileen Keleghan is asking applicants to carefully consider any offers received in today’s round.
“One of the common queries that we receive at the offers stage is around order of preference,” Keleghan said.
“Applicants who receive a lower preference offer can accept this offer and it will not prevent them from receiving an offer of a course higher up on their courses list in a later round should a place become available and they are deemed eligible,” she said.
“Those who have received an offer in this round should also consider the current offer carefully as it may be the only one they will receive.”
Round Two offers will be available to view on the CAO website from 10am on 20 September. The reply date by which Round Two offers must be accepted is 22 September at 3pm.
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