Points surge sees door close on entrants
Darker is particularly aggrieved that the higher level maths bonus could have ruined her chances of getting her chosen course, which has no maths entry requirement.
“The maths bonus messed up the whole system. I hate maths, I was never going to do honours, but I did honours Irish instead – it’s just as challenging as honours maths but you don’t get any bonus for it, it’s very unfair.”
Barry Mullen, from Rathfarnham, Dublin, did take the higher level maths paper and achieved a C1, earning those bonus points. It was unfortunately not enough to get him his first choice of business and law in UCD. “Last year it was 480 points, this year it’s 495. I got 490. It’s a real killer.”
To make things worse, his second choice, commerce international, jumped from 465 to 495 as well. He’s hoping it will come down five points on the second round, but if not he’ll take up an offer of commerce, also in UCD. Despite benefiting from the maths bonus, he thinks the scheme has been badly applied.
“The whole idea of it is to get more people to take up higher level maths. The people getting As and Bs are going to do it anyway, so they should give the people who get a D3 the 25 bonus points, 20 for a D2 and on down, but nothing extra for an A or a B.”
Cathal Crowe from Ballyconnell, Cavan was initially disappointed, but is now happy to accept his CAO offer. “I wanted to study religious education and English in Mater Dei to become a secondary school teacher. I didn’t get the points because it was 405 this year. I got offered arts and theology in NUI Maynooth and I’m happy to take it.”
The course in Mater Dei takes four years to complete, while an arts degree in Maynooth takes three years. Upon completion of an arts degree, a postgraduate degree is necessary to become a secondary school teacher.
“I am happy to take Maynooth as it will take four years to become a teacher, whatever route I take. It’s not the end of the world. I’ll be happy in Maynooth because I know a few people who are going there.”
