The day that first-round offers from the Central Applications Office go out symbolises the culmination of a process initiated on November 5th, 2023. At that time, 83,537 aspiring students began the process to secure a place on one of the over 1,000 courses offered by tertiary institutions in Ireland.
The journey has already ended for some – those who applied through the mature applicants’ process, of whom 5,385 received offers in July. Similarly, 7,082 Post-Leaving Cert (PLC) programme graduates and others had their offers issued in early August. The same can be said for those who secured deferrals from last year and several other categories. Over the past six weeks, the CAO’s Galway office had already made and processed around 8,000 offers and acceptances.
The process reaches its peak on Wednesday afternoon, specifically for the approximately 15,000 applicants under 23 who sat the Leaving Cert in previous years and those applying in 2024. This also includes the 47,262 students who got their Leaving Cert grades the preceding Friday with hopes of securing a place for their desired college course through applications to the CAO.
Each applicant is personally given a unique access password for the ‘My Application’ section on the CAO website, allowing them to check their offers.
Potential students might receive an offer from both their level eight honours degree list and their level six/seven higher certificate/ordinary degree list. However, they can only accept one offer, with a clear deadline by the upcoming week on when the offer will expire, outlined on the offer notice.
If an applicant is given their first choice from either list, they will not receive an alternative offer from the same list. Those who receive offers below their preference might have opportunities to get higher, more favoured courses at any point, even as late as mid-October, depending on the acceptance rates at universities via the CAO website. These chances come about as untaken places are then forwarded to the next suitable candidates based on their CAO points.
It is yet unclear how many course offers will be accepted in the immediate future or how many candidates will choose to postpone their further education until 2025.
Notably, less than 5% of the current available positions will be forthcoming after this round of offers. Therefore, the offer received this week could be the final one and should thus be contemplated over the forthcoming days before the response deadline which is set for next Tuesday, September 3rd, at 3pm.
Deferring
For those seeking to defer their place offer, acceptance of the offer should not be confirmed. Rather, the admissions office of the respective college must be notified promptly by email.
The email should include the applicant’s name as stipulated on the CAO application, their CAO application number, the course code they’re put off and the rationale behind the request.
The subject line of the email should clearly state “Deferred entry”. Moreover, individuals should check the institution’s website for an online deferral policy reference.
The email needs to reach the admissions office no less than two days prior to the reply date mentioned on the offer notice. The college will then correspond directly to inform you of their decision.
If the deferral is not sanctioned, the offer for the current year can be accepted; however, the acceptance must align with the response deadline.
Please note that all correspondence about deferrals needs to be sent directly to the suitable admissions office, not the CAO.
How to go about a deferral.
To secure a postponed position, re-application through CAO and payment of the relevant fee in the following year is required. The application form has to be meticulously filled out, with all instructions followed. The postponed course should be the primary and only selection in your application form. Confirm your deferral by ticking the “deferred applicant” box present in the “course selections” portion of your form.
It’s critical to go through the letter confirming your deferred position for more detailed instructions. Your deferred place’s conditions will be violated if you include more than the single deferred course code in your submission. Consequently, your guaranteed place will be lost and you’ll have to compete for places as usual. When you reapply the subsequent year, a fully-fledged application is essential. That is to say, you should include all personal data, documents, and so forth that accompanied your initial application (unless the institution offering the place says otherwise).
Advice for the 2024 graduates
The bulk of the offer recipients this week are students from the Leaving Cert class of 2024. Several could be eyeing a course that was not fully considered prior to adding it to their course selection list in late June. The famous saying, “Decide quickly and endure remorse at your leisure,” is fitting when contemplating a course that hasn’t been fully examined. The urge is to swiftly accept as it may be the only offer received, but this can be recklessly risky.
The sinking feeling of gradually losing interest in course content and disconnecting from lectures, tutorials, practicals and more, is rather dreadful as winter approaches. If the course content isn’t engaging and enjoyable, maintaining involvement in a three to four-year degree programme will be tough.
So now is the time, if the course offered to you today is unfamiliar, to enlighten yourself.
Research in the forthcoming days
The website qualifax.ie provides comprehensive information on all courses. Each specific college’s prospectus is additionally available on their respective websites.
Should you have any queries regarding the course or any other elements of the educational institution from which you have received an offer today, take advantage of the upcoming days to reach out directly to them. Equip yourself appropriately with all necessary details before hitting the Accept button on your CAO offer.
Pupils that lose their enthusiasm for their course and call it quits after a few weeks may end up bearing the financial burden of the annual €3,000 registration fee as well as the Higher Education Authority subvention, which might exceed €8,000 during the first year of any new course they might enrol in the following years.
Therefore, it’s crucial to ensure that the course offered to you today aligns neatly with your passions and capabilities. Ascertain that after a thorough examination of the course content over the proposed timeline, you are keen to proceed.
For an overwhelming majority of applicants, this will certainly be the scenario, and they can joyfully advance to the next phase of their life voyage.