CAO picks show demand for building, law, and dentistry

That well-worn political slogan “it’s the economy, stupid” seems to have been taken to heart by this year’s college applicants as demand continues to rise for courses in the growth areas of construction and engineering.

CAO first preferences for level 8 (honours degree) programmes in Built Environment are up 27.6 per cent, in Architecture up 15.8 per cent and in Engineering/Technology up 9.3 per cent.

Other big movers include Law (up 12.8 per cent) and Dentistry (up 13.5 per cent), while Administration/Business is up 3.6 per cent – reflecting renewed confidence in professions badly hit by the recession.

The trend followed a similar jump in demand for construction and business-related courses in last year's CAO. The most popular architecture and engineering courses ultimately rose 20 to 25 points in 2014.

Reliable guide

While CAO applicants have the option of revising their choices until July 1st, the first preference statistics are usually a reliable guide to trends.

Demand for Medicine was virtually unchanged, while the number of first preferences in Nursing dropped 2.2 per cent. The number of applicants for level 8 courses rose by 1.3 per cent but an increasing number appear to be disregarding options at level 6/7 (ordinary degree/diploma), with a drop in applications of 4.9 per cent.

Another feature this year is the jump in the number of applicants from Northern Ireland – by nearly 300 to 1,383.

Trinity College Dublin cited as among its biggest movers Law and French (+48%); Law and German (+46%); and Philosophy (+40%). In UCD, it was Economics & Finance (+28%) and pure Economics (+67%).