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How
does the CAO work? Tens of thousands of students, hundreds of courses, dozens of colleges - how does it all work? There's no doubt it's a complicated system. So here's our guide to the Central Applications Office. Top 10 preferences On the CAO form, you rank your top ten preferences twice - ten degrees (Level 8) and ten diplomas/certs (Level 6/7). So in all you can put down up to 20 courses. You do not have to (and should not!) rank courses by points - at this stage points have very little to do with it. When the results come out, you are offered the highest ranked course in each list that you have sufficient points for. So you can get two offers - a level 8 and a level 6/7. Cut-Off-Points The lowest amount of points for a course is the number achieved by the last person to get into the course. So if a course has 10 places and the candidates results are 530, 510, 470, 445, 430, 420, 415, 410, 405, 400 - then 400 will be the minimum cut off point. Random Selection So what happens if there is only one place left, but two candidates on 400 points? Then the place is simply given at random. This is often donated by an asterisk * beside the course points. Random selection can be very harsh, but is necessary to distribute places in the event of equal points. The Second Round After a long summer, students often change their mind and hence many people defer for a year, or simply don't take up an offer. Also the exam result rechecks usually upgrade a number of people. These events make it necessary to have a second round to distribute all remaining places in courses. Bonus Points, Portfolios & Special Requirements An A1 is not always 100 points. In recent years, some Colleges have started to reward students who do well in certain subjects by awarding bonus points. One of the most prominent examples of this is the University of Limerick which awards bonus points to students who sit Honours Maths. It is expected that other Colleges may follow this idea in the coming years. Sometimes 600 points is not enough for a course. This is because course entry requires a portfolio, interview or other special requirement to gain entry. It is important that you have researched all requirements well in advance. Most architecture courses for example require extensive portfolios to be submitted. Similarly many science courses require you take certain science subjects for the Leaving Cert. Failure to meet special requirements means automatic disqualification.
A Reminder...
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