1. Options after the Leaving Cert
Training/Apprenticeships- SOLAS
Third Level Colleges- CAO
UK Colleges- UCAS
PLCs
Direct to Employment
Defence Forces
Gardai
For the majority of students this will involve a CAO application.

2. The Role of the Central Applications Office (CAO)
To process applications for 1st year undergraduate courses for colleges and Universities in a fair and efficient manner.
Every LC student has 2019 CAO handbook which contains application and course information. The Handbook can also be found on

3. CAO Dates & Fees
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN ONLINE APPLICATION FEE CLOSING DATE Discounted Rate €30 20th Jan 2019 Normal Rate €45 1st Feb 2019 Late Application €60 1st May 2019

4. National Framework of Qualifications
Level 5 Certificate – 1 year
Level 6 Higher Certificate - 2years
Level 7 Ordinary Bachelor Degree – 3 years
Level 8 Honours Bachelor Degree – 4 years

5. STAGES OF THE CAO APPLICATION

6. Stage 1 – Before Applying– Research online/Open Days/ Study/ Goal Setting
Stage 2 – Completing the Application
Stage Statement of Application from CAO
Stage Change of Mind – until 1st July
Stage Leaving Certificate Results
Stage Offers and Acceptance of Places

7. Stage 1
Research

8. www.cao.ie www.qualifax.ie www.careersportal.ie www.accesscollege.ie
Research is vital to rule out as well as consider courses.
Shortlist CAO Courses
Pay attention to Specific Course Requirements
DISCUSS
options with the Guidance Counsellor, Parents, Teachers, College Admissions Personnel etc.

9. Completing an Application
Stage 2
Completing an Application

10. All students applying for college must get a CAO number.
To do this they have to log on to and click on the green “Apply” tab.

14. Personal details, name, address, phone number, DOB, email address etc.
Laser/debit card
CAO account- number will be sent via and flash up on screen
This number is private and it will be used in every correspondence between your son/ daughter and the CAO for the rest of the year.
An applicant may only apply once to CAO in the same year

15. Two Applications in One Form
There are two course choice lists and applicants may make up to ten course choices on each list.
10 choices may be made on the Level 8 list
10 choices may be made on the Level 7/6 list
The choices on one list do not affect your choices on the other list

16. It is possible to receive an offer on both lists
Your son / daughter may then decide to accept either his /her Level 7/6 or his/ her Level 8 offer.
Alternatively, he/she might not wish to accept either offer.

17. Take Note…
Applicants can add or take away courses on their CAO Form free of charge up until the closing date – 1st February 2019.
The applicant cannot add restricted courses after this date.
A Restricted Course is any course that has an audition/ HPAT/ portfolio etc. These courses MUST be inserted on CAO form before the 1st Feb deadline.
Details of restricted entry courses are in the Handbook (

18. Order of Preference
It is extremely important that your son /daughter place his/ her course choices in genuine order of preference!
To do otherwise is a mistake.

19. Statement of Application from CAO
Stage 3
Statement of Application from CAO

20. The Statement is important for two reasons:
The Statement of Course Choices includes notification of the CAO Application number.
The Statement of Course Choices lists the courses that your son/daughter has applied for.
If any mistakes or omission have been made in the course choices, now is the time to rectify any errors. Contact CAO immediately.

21. Stage 4
Change of Mind

22. Change of Mind Facility
Opens in March but applicants must pay 10euro for every change the make.
This facility becomes free on May 4th/5th until 1st July where applicants can make as many changes as they want for free.
This may be used to change the order of course choices and/or to introduce new courses, subject to the restrictions detailed in the Handbook.

23. Stage 5
THE RESULTS

24. Selection system used in Irish 3rd Level Colleges is the POINTS SYSTEM
A selection system is needed to match the no. of qualified applicants to the no. of course places
Selection system used in Irish 3rd Level Colleges is the POINTS SYSTEM
Points are calculated from ONE sitting of the Leaving Certificate only.
Points total is calculated from SIX best subjects
Bonus points are awarded for Honours Mathematics 25
Anne Smyth - Loreto College, Swords

25. Minimum Entry Requirements
Level 6 & 7
5 passes (O6 or H7) for most level 6 & level 7 courses
Level 8 Courses
2 H5 or Higher and 4 O6/H7
Anne Smyth - Loreto College, Swords

26. Specific Entry Requirements
NUI Colleges (UCD, UCC, NUIM , NUIG,RCSI and St Angela's Sligo) have a 3rd language requirement (e.g. French or German)
N.B. Some exceptions for Science, Engineering, Nursing and Agricultural Science Courses.
Higher Level Irish Primary School Teaching
Higher Level Chemistry Veterinary
Higher Level Maths Engineering Level 8.
Higher Level Chemistry Pharmacy
College Prospectus should always be consulted
Anne Smyth - Loreto College, Swords

27. Can we estimate the possible points required for 2019 entry?
The points cut-off in any given year will depend on:
• the volume of applications for that year
• the number of places the college can accommodate and
• the examination performance of the applicants in that year.
Students should avoid drawing direct comparison between 2018 points and 2019 points.

28. ALERT LISTS
CAO advises all applicants to check the Alert List on a regular basis.
Every college/university has an Alert List which highlights any course changes that have taken place,

29. Offer and Acceptance of Places
Stage 6
Offer and Acceptance of Places

30. The Offer Process
In the week following the release of the Leaving Certificate results CAO will either:
Send notice of a Level 6/7 AND/OR Level 8 Offer.
If no offers have been made, a Statement of Application Record will be sent which you should check carefully to make sure all information on it is correct.
Offers will also be available on the CAO website.
Applicants may check for and accept offers on the website.

31. If TWO offers have been made simultaneously, only ONE may be accepted.
If the applicant wishes to accept an offer of a place they must carry out the instructions on the offer notice before 5.15pm on the closing date for acceptance printed on the offer notice.

32. There can be no delays at the offer/acceptance stage.
Any offer not accepted by the closing date for receipt of acceptance of offers in CAO will be offered to another applicant in the next round of offers.

33. Allocation of Places
To explain how courses are allocated we will look just at Level 8 courses in the next example but exactly the same process will take place with Level 6/7 courses, and at the same time.
The importance of the applicant placing courses in genuine order of preference will become apparent in the following slides.

34. When examination results are released in August they are entered into the CAO computer.
The computer checks each applicant’s results. For each course the applicant has applied for, the computer first determines if the applicant has the minimum entry requirements for the course.
If the applicant meets the minimum entry requirements for the course, the applicant’s points are calculated for this course choice.

35. All eligible applicants are then placed in a list, in order of academic merit, for each course that they applied for.
The admissions officers of the Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) tell CAO how many places are to be offered on each course
CAO then makes offers to the required number of applicants on each course starting with the applicant with the highest points and working down until enough places have been offered.

36. Should some applicants decline to accept their offers these places become available in the next round of offers. They will be offered to the next applicants on the order of merit list.
This process continues until all the places on the course are filled or until all the eligible applicants on the order of merit list have been offered places.

37. These are the applicants for CK101 Arts in UCC.
The examination results have not yet been released, so these applicants are in no particular order. We are going to trace the progress of the applicant marked in red.

38. Applicants are placed in a queue for each course they applied for, their position in the queue is determined by their points. The applicant with the highest points is placed at the top of the queue. The points achieved by the applicant in red determines his position in the queue for each course he applied to.

39. The HEI’s have instructed the CAO to allocate 6 places for CK101, 7 places for DN 201 and 5 places for AL 033. The applicants marked in green have enough points to be offered places.
The applicant marked in red has enough points for his second preference.

40. The applicant in red is offered his second preference, the highest preference course that he has enough points for, and he will now disappear from the queue in all his lower choices. Placing DN201 as his second preference meant that he would prefer to receive an offer on DN201 than on any other course except CK101 - which is his first preference.

41. Having been offered his second preference he must now decide to accept it or to do nothing. If he does not accept the offer the place will be offered to another applicant in the next round of offers.
Regardless of whether he accepts or not he will still be considered for an offer on his first preference if a place becomes available. In the second round, one more offer was made on CK101 and our applicant is now at the top of the queue.

42. On registration day in UCC, two students failed to register so UCC instructs CAO to make two more offers in the third round for CK101. Our applicant, who was at the top of the queue, now receives an offer. He may do nothing and remain in DN201 or he may accept the offer and begin in CK101.

43. Remember!
Try not to guess what the points are going to be for the courses you are interested in.
Simply list your courses in genuine order of preference from the highest preference 1, to the lowest preference 10.
If you are entitled to an offer, you will be offered the highest preference that you are entitled to.

44. Filling up choices on the CAO Form Order of Preference is the RULE!
LEVEL 8
(Honours Degree Courses)
LEVEL 6 & 7
(Higher Cert & Ordinary Degree Courses) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
10.

45. Important Points
Read the CAO handbook and keep safe- may need to refer to it throughout year.
Read the relevant college prospectus.
Choose courses in order of preference and based on genuine career aspirations.
Do not base choice on projected exam results or last year’s CAO points.
Do not guess, assume or listen to rumours.
Always check with CAO if in doubt.

46. Finally…
The most common mistakes that students make while filling out CAO form are as follows…
Paying 30 euro but not putting down any courses
Not going by order of preference
Putting down the wrong date of birth
Not reading the Statement of Application Record accurately
Not applying for Irish/Third Language Exemptions on time

47. Post Leaving Cert Courses
PLCs
Post Leaving Cert Courses

48. Post Leaving Certificate Courses/FETAC
Apply directly to college
1 or 2 years
Wide variety of courses
Good way of finding out if you like a course
Pathway to Higher Education (FETAC-Further Education and Training Awards Council)
Gap Year – Defer CAO Course
Lead to employment

49. LINKS to HE courses
Up to 390 points can be obtained to gain entry to for most courses in the Institutes of Technology. (Check online/prospectus)
Linked scheme for some HEI courses eg Nursing Studies linked to Nursing degrees, Business linked to B. Commerce etc Reserved places for FETAC students

50. Apprenticeships http://www.apprenticeship.ie/en/SitePages/Home.aspx
Information for apprentices & Apprenticeships in development-see website
Benefits: Secure contract; Earn& learn; Jobs skills; Job ready qualifications…..
Qualifications: Level 6 & 7, equivalent to HEI qualifications.

51. New apprenticeships Labatory Apprenticeship
New industry- led Polymer Apprenticeship
International Financial Services Apprenticeship
Tech Apprenticeship- Systems & Networks; Software Development
Auctioneering & Property Services
Insurance Practice etc etc….