Click here to download a PDF of the CAO's 2017 Round One offers: http://iti.ms/2vR6EzZ
It is almost crunch time for over 80,000 prospective students as they count down the remaining hours before they discover if they have secured the college place of their choice.
Students will find out at 6am on Monday if their application has been succesful when offers are made through the Central Applications Office (CAO).
While some students will invariably look to the 2016 point allocations to see how close they would have come to their preferred college course had they sat the Leaving Certificate last year, any direct comparison is futile due to the introduction this year of the new common points scale.
While not advisable, students who wish to engage in “guesstimating” the points allocation this year could look to figures released by the CAO in July breaking down the 2017 first preference applications.
It is possible that these figures could give a rough indication as to how courses will fare. For instance, a fall in applications to a given course combined with any increase in the number of available college places could result in a lower points requirement when the CAO releases each institution’s first-round offers.
The 2017 applications figures showed applications for agriculture and courses related to the construction sector experiencing an increase, reflecting a continuing confidence in areas that are witnessing economic and export growth.
Other areas such as nursing and pharmacy saw a drop in school leavers opting for these courses as their first choice of career. For more on this click here (http://iti.ms/2ve4JSv)
The caveat is, of course, that ’guesstimating’ is entirely in the realm of speculation. The true cut-off point will not be known until Monday and applicants are better off saving themselves the headache and instead waiting until 6am when the first round offer is made.
From that time, applicants can check online to see if they have received an offer by visiting cao.ie and logging in to their account using the ‘My Application facility’.
For more on this click here (http://iti.ms/2vPKqOB)
The Central Applications Office will also issue offers by post, e-mail and SMS text and applicants who have not received an offer will receive a Statement of Application Record.
To help students and their parents digest the 2017 results the Irish Times CAO Helpdesk will operate at irishtimes.com/results2017 from 9am. Guidance counsellors Brian Howard and Deirdre Garrett will be on hand until 6pm to answer any questions you have about your college applications . The helpdesk will also operate on Tuesday (9-6pm) and on Wednesday (9-1pm).
The First Round Offers 2017 supplement will be distributed with Monday’s edition of the Irish Times. It will feature analysis of this year’s CAO points allocation and trends, full course listings along with hints and tips on planning for college.
The CAO’s second round offers will be made available on the morning of August 31st.
