The sound of the CAO envelope plopping through the letter box tomorrow should bring the suspense to an end in more than 60,000 homes where college hopefuls are awaiting their fate.
The cut-off points will be published in tomorrow's Irish Times Options 2000 supplement. The points can be accessed on The Irish Times on the Web (www. ireland.com) or the CAO website (www.cao.ie) from 9 a.m. RTE's Aertel service will also broadcast the points.
If you're having difficulties deciding what to do about your round one offer, you can telephone the Irish Times helpline between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. or you can e-mail your query to education@irish-times.ie.
I will put your questions to guidance counsellor Sile Sheehy in a webcast which will be broadcast live at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. This will be available in both audio and text format on the Ireland.com site.
The same queries recur year after year, so the web-based question-and-answer session should be useful even if you don't send us a specific query.
Last year, almost 50,000 of the 64,996 applicants received an offer of a college place in the first round of the CAO offers season. This year, there are slightly fewer applicants at 63,145, so your chances of getting an offer are increased somewhat.
It is estimated that more than 34,000 third-level places will be available. Already, 3,528 offers were made in round zero. These offers were made to applicants who were not waiting for Leaving Cert results.
They include mature students, Post Leaving Certificate students and those who deferred a place from last year. Not all colleges participate in this round, which can be somewhat confusing for students.
This year there will be two main rounds of offers. These are the rounds that this year's school-leavers are waiting for. If an applicant rejects a place in round one, it will be re-offered in round two. However, last year only 4,524 offers were made in round two so it's not something students should bank on.
Any vacancies which arise after round two will be offered to candidates in a series of rolling rounds. By the end of the entire session last year, with seven rounds of offers made, the total number of applicants to be offered a place reached 54,220 and the total number of offers reached 85,516.
So, four out of every five applicants got an offer, with some applicants receiving more than one offer.
The helpline was buzzing all last week with queries from Leaving Cert students and their pa rents. Students who failed a particular subject (mainly English and maths) were wondering if there was any way they can get around the requirement for this subject.
Unfortunately, if you have applied for a course where a minimum grade is specified in a particular subject and you failed that subject, then you have little option but to resit it next year.
You can combine essential subject requirements over a number of Leaving Certificates so you may simply opt to take that one subject again, if you think you have sufficient points to gain you a place.
Remember, points cannot be accumulated. They are calculated on the basis of your best six subjects acquired in one sitting of the Leaving Cert.
Many of you have been studying the cut-off points for last year and the helpline had a number of queries about the asterix which appears after some of the points. This means that random selection applied. Not all applicants with this points level were offered a place. The CAO operated a computerised lottery to allocate places to people with this points level.
The helpline has also heard from students who have done better in the Leaving Certificate than they had expected. Far from being a source of joy, these students were devastated. Now they would be offered their first preference on the CAO list.
If you are offered your first preference you have two choices: take it or leave it.
They filled out their CAO form matching courses to last year's cut-off points rather than their interests. All that advice about making sure your first choice is the course you really want had simply passed them by.
The rule of thumb when it comes to CAO offers is that you move up your list of CAO choices but you can never move down. So, if you're offered your fifth preference you may, subsequently, be made offers of your fourth, third, second or first choice, but you will not be offered your sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth or 10th choices.
Another question exercising the minds of callers is the cost of viewing Leaving Certificate scripts. Students are so inured to paying for everything they find it hard to believe it's not a case of pay per view. This is a free service provided by the Department of Education. However, there is a charge of £25 for each subject if you wish to appeal your grade. This will be refunded if your result is upgraded.
There were complaints from students about the script-viewing rules. One student said he would be away and couldn't understand why he was not al lowed to nominate someone in his place. Another wanted to take his maths and French teachers in with him as he was concerned about both subjects. The rules allow him to bring only one person in with him.
Then there was the art student who was upset that she couldn't look at her practical work. The Department allows for the viewing of written scripts only. A spokesman said this was on the grounds of security and logistics; however, it was open to that student to appeal her grade and the practical work would be re-examined.
Back to life after the Leaving: CERT, the State tourism training agency, is mounting a major recruitment campaign this week. There are walk-in interviews in a variety of locations around the country.
CERT courses include professional cookery, bartending, restaurant skills, tourism, travel agency skills, accommodation services and hospitality skills.
You must be over 17 years of age by December 31st, 2000, (over 18 in the case of the bar service course) and be of Leaving Certificate or NCVA level 2 standard of education.
Successful applicants get a weekly training grant, a transport grant and free tuition. Interviews will be held from 10 a.m. to noon and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Today: The Travellers' Friend, Castlebar.
Tomorrow: Hyland Hotel, Donegal; CERT House, Dublin; Jurys Inn, Galway; Grand Hotel, Tralee.
Wednesday: CERT House, Dublin; Mount Errigal Hotel, Letterkenny; Prince of Wales Hotel, Athlone.
Thursday: International Ho tel, Killarney; Lansdowne Hotel, Kenmare; Jurys Inn, Cork.
Friday: Bay View, Killybegs; Jurys Inn, Cork; Imperial Hotel, Dundalk.
For more information, phone CERT's tourism careers hotline at 1 850 256 256.