Selecting your top preference courses is similar in many ways to committing to a relationship. It may last for three to four years and will shape your life in ways you can never imagine.
It is vitally important that you do everything to research your options fully before you select them. Financial considerations are key. Can you, for example, afford to live away from home, and what expenses are you likely to incur?
Having identified a college or geographical area where you can financially sustain yourself over three to four years, you need to identify the full range of courses at both level eight (honours degree) and seven/six (ordinary degree/higher certificate) that interest you.
Advanced search
You can do this through the "advanced search" facility on the qualifax.ie website.
If you are one of the 40 per cent who will apply to the Central Applications Office this year having completed your Leaving Cert prior to 2016, you will almost certainly have identified your area of study by now. If you are taking the Leaving Cert this year, you may not as yet have done so. That is not a significant problem in most cases, as you have until 5.15pm on July 1st to make your college choice.
The exception to this rule relates to those over 23 years of age on January 1st last, whose applications will be assessed not on their Leaving Cert points score but on their life experience to date. It also applies to courses chosen by applicants, which are listed as “restricted” in the CAO handbook.
These will assess applications over the coming months using other methods such as portfolio presentations, musical and artistic performances, and Hpat assessment tests for undergraduate medical entry. February 1st is the closing date for listing all such courses for these applicants.
If you are still researching your course options for 2016 entry, seek an appointment with your guidance counsellor.
As a practising guidance counsellor I find it very frustrating when a student presents himself for an appointment without undertaking basic research. Everybody interested in progressing on to third level this year has an 18-year life story to explore.
Fulfilment
You have excelled at some subjects in school, and you probably enjoy these classes. You may also have been involved in hobbies or sporting activities, in which you have experienced a deep sense of fulfilment. All this helps to guide your choice.
When you list your final list of course, give yourself the widest options available. Remember to list your course choices in the order you want them, as you could be offered any of them, depending on your Leaving Cert results.
Finally, never list a course if you have not researched the lecture content throughout each academic year, all of which are in colleges' prospectuses and on qualifax.ie. Series concluded
