In a few weeks, my child is scheduled to take his Leaving Cert exams. A communication from his guidance counsellor hinted at a potential risk of forfeiting a university position if his CAO application details aren’t meticulously filled out. The counsellor mentioned that this becomes an unfortunate reality for hundreds of aspiring college students yearly, leaving me puzzled about verifying this information. Any guidance?
Your child’s counsellor is telling the truth. Just last year, sanctioning “errors or omissions” on their applications saw hundreds of applicants withdrawn from the first CAO round in late August.
The CAO used to physically mail letters in early May detailing the data held on each applicant. Now, they’ve turned to emailing the same information to all applicants of that year.
Your son will be on the receiving end of this email soon, prompting him to verify his details on his CAO account.
His CAO account should contain his Leaving Cert exam number, which was nonexistent during his initial CAO application. However, the State Examinations Commission (SEC) since has assigned it. The CAO utilizes this number to pair the applicant with their grades.
The leading fault in 2023 was an issue with the CAO matching the applicant’s online application record with the information the SEC furnished during the Leaving Cert exams.
Ensure your son accurately logs his Leaving Cert number once he gets this crucial CAO email. It’s his duty to rectify his records online in case it isn’t recorded.
Ensure he pays attention to his email’s “spam” folder should it accidentally end up there. If your son chose the option to receive “SMS text messages” during his application, he will be reminded to check his account for this email via a text message.
If your son has previously undertaken the Leaving Cert, he has to check that his old exam number, as well as other related qualifications, are accurately recorded.
Equally, if your child has been excused from studying Irish, he should promptly record this exemption with the National University of Ireland (NUI), should he think of vying for a slot in any of the NUI colleges. Likewise, if he is relieved from studying Irish and a third language and contemplates enrolling in a Trinity course, he is required to log this exemption with Trinity. All these exemptions must consequently be communicated to the CAO to prevent the loss of a university position.