SINCE THE Leaving Certificate results were published on Wednesday, The Irish Times Helpline, staffed by guidance experts, have been dealing with your questions.
They will be at their phones again on 1800 946 942 on Monday and Tuesday next week to deal with questions arising from the first round of CAO offers, available from 6am on Monday at www.cao.ie.
Offers of medical places
The results of the first HPAT test were issued in June, to students who sat the assessment test on February 14th.
Applicants were provided with their overall score out of 300 and a percentile rank score to show how they performed in relation to other applicants.
Given that there are between 480-490 places on offer next Monday from the five medical schools this year, you would have to score above the 80th percentile to be in the top 500 scores on the HPAT assessment.
Now that you have received your Leaving Certificate result, you can add the first 550 points you achieved in the Leaving Certificate along with one additional point for every five points you achieve over 550 to your HPAT score.
Thus if you got a score of 220 in your HPAT assessment and a Leaving Certificate point score of 570 would achieve a score of 220+550+4=774.
Each of the five medical faculties will offer the total number of places available, in strict numerical order, starting with the highest combined total of HPAT and Leaving Certificate score.
What to do if you failed maths.
For more than 4,500 students, failing maths is a very distressful experience. There are a number of options available.
Firstly, you might decide to view your script on August 28th or 29th in your school.
You may decide to appeal, which will result in your paper being remarked by a different maths teacher.
This remarking process will cost you €40, refundable if your paper is upgraded.
On average, 20 per cent of all appeals are successful each year, so it is certainly an option worth considering.
What happens if I have the points but don’t meet the minimum entry requirement?
If you do not meet a college or course entry requirement, you have no option but to repeat a single subject next year and then reapply to the CAO in January 2010, using your points score from this year’s sitting of the Leaving.
You cannot use an improved grade, secured in a repeated single subject, to increase your CAO points score.
What financial supports are available for college?
The helpline received many calls from students and parents concerned about their ability to fund themselves through college. Registration fees are about €1,500 which is a major issue for many families, especially where they have other children still in full-time education.
The maintenance grant is the main source of financial help available for students in full-time higher education undergraduate/ postgraduate and PLC courses.
Support is available to eligible students in most colleges in Ireland as well as eligible Irish students in many colleges in Northern Ireland, Britain and other EU states.
Family and/or personal income is the key factor that will be assessed when you apply for a maintenance grant, but there are also some other conditions.
The best source of information regarding grants is to be found on www.studentfinance.ie
The closing date for receipt of completed applications by the grant-awarding agencies for the 2009-10 academic year is August 31st next.
On Monday, Brian Mooney will be among the contributors in Options 2009, a special 20-page supplement with The Irish Times. This column resumes next Tuesday.
