`Hello, CAO - I've changed my mind'

THE CAO HAS been sending out thousands of large brown envelopes to college applicants over the past week. By this week everyone who applied for a place back in January should have heard from the office.

The envelope includes a change-of-mind form for those who wish to change their course choices and a statement of application record.

This statement is very important. It contains all the information which is recorded in the CAO computer about each applicant. The purpose of sending out the statement is for the applicant to check now that all the detail is correct and to alert the CAO if there is anything wrong.

This statement contains your CAO application number, which should be used in all correspondence with the CAO. It's important to keep a record of this number - and not to confuse it with the Leaving Cert number - as this is the number that the CAO will use to make place offers to you and which you will need if you are making any queries about your application.

Ideally, you should have a file with a photocopy of your original CAO/CAS application form and to which you now add the statement of application record and other CAO material.

Check that your name, address, date of birth and telephone number are correct; check that all your exams and exam numbers are listed under the "examination programme" heading. If you are a repeat student, make sure that last year's Leaving Cert is listed With subject levels and grades.

Students who are exempt from the Irish language requirement for NUI colleges should check if there is any reference to this on the statement of record. If not, contact the CAO.

Most importantly, check that the course choices listed under both the degree and the diploma/cert headings are the correct ones. Don't assume that the course codes or short course details are correct - get out the CAO handbook and check them against it, and make sure that the codes and course details match. (It's easy for someone to make a mistake keying endless codes into a computer and it's up to you to make sure it is correct.)

You can't use the statement of application record to make changes in your course choices, by the way - this has to be done on the accompanying change-of-mind form.

IF THERE IS a mistake on the statement, make the required alteration and return it to the CAO. The responsibility lies with the student to do this: if it is found that an address is wrong or an exam missing later on, the CAO will not accept responsibility.

Also in the envelope is a change-of-mind kit; this is an envelope containing what look like two lotto cards, one for degree courses and one for diploma/cert courses. Students who do not want to change their original course choices need do nothing with these; it is only in the case where an applicant wants to change the courses or the order of courses that these are required.

Every year hundreds of students go through the business of simply repeating all their original choices and returning them to the CAO, thus wasting everybody's time. So, only return the change-of-mind forms if you are making a change; otherwise, ignore them.

Those who are registering a change of mind should enter all 10 courses in the new order in which you want them registered; effectively, you are sending in a new 10 choices. If you only want to make a change on the degree list, then you need only return that; similarly, if your changes apply only to diploma/cert courses, there is no need to return the degree sheet.

The instructions on each sheet are very clear and precise. Don't forget to enter your CAO number at the top of each sheet if you are sending them back.

Now is a good time to sit down and have a last think about your CAO/CAS choices before you settle into the final revision and the Leaving Cert itself. Changes can be made up to July 1st, but it is easy to forget in all the hassle of the exams and the closing date can easily slip by - better to re-assess your course choices now and make any changes necessary.

A number of courses which were listed in this year's CAO/CAS hand-book have been cancelled in the meanwhile and some new courses have dome on stream which were not listed in the handbook. This is a most confusing state of affairs and it does seem unfair to students to take out or add new courses at this late stage, thus confusing them unnecessarily.

The National College of Industrial Relations (NCIR) is a particularly bad offender, withdrawing no less than 12 of the original 16 cert/diploma courses it listed in the handbook. This is an outrageous waste of space and time as well as confusing; if the adminstrators are not sure about a course they should keep it out until they know for certain. For one of the newest colleges in the CAO system, this is not an auspicious start.

One wonders, too, why Trinity could not have decided to split classical civilisation into Latin and Greek before rather than after the handbook was printed.

If you have listed any cancelled courses among your choices, make sure you substitute something else in a change-of-mind. Check the new ones to see if there is anything of interest there or which affects your existing application.