Students who received their Leaving Cert results last week will find out tomorrow, when the CAO’s First Round Offers are issued, if they were successful with their college applications.
The CAO’s Round One offer constitutes the main body of third-level offers that takes place after the Leaving Cert results are issued. They will be available to view online to applicants from 2pm on September 8th.
Students can choose to accept the offer immediately if they wish but they have time to consider their offer as the deadline for Round One offer acceptance is 3pm on September 14th.
The Irish Times help desk will reopen on Thursday, September 8th, at midday and remain open until 8pm.
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This Friday, The Irish Times will feature a special CAO First Round supplement on college options following the release of college offers the previous day.
This will include full first round points listings, analysis of trends, and advice on what next steps prospective students should take as they plan for third-level.
Students who applied for a third-level place through the CAO will have converted their Leaving Cert results into points. They could do this by using the CAO’s points calculator at cao.ie/?page=points_calc or they can use a table such as the one below as a quick reference.
Guidance and advice
Guidance counsellors Brian Howard and Deirdre Garrett will be on hand at irishtimes.com/education to answer all your questions on the Irish Times online help desk, which opens at noon tomorrow. The help desk will also operate on Friday, September 9th, from midday until 7pm and again on Saturday, September 10th, from 10am until 1pm. Readers can also submit queries by email to caohelpdesk@irishtimes.com.
Other options
Of course not all Leaving Cert candidates wish to study at third-level. Apprenticeships now offer big opportunities for students wishing to pursue careers in finance, engineering, ICT and biopharma.
On September 6th, The Irish Times published our Smart Choices supplement where we examined options such as apprenticeships, Post Leaving Cert courses and the further education sector in general.
As part of this coverage leading education writers outlined what candidates should consider when deciding on an apprenticeship or a course in further education as well as examining the criteria and requirements that apply.
