For thousands of Leaving Cert students it has been a six-year journey like no other. After starting in the calm of late August 2019, students had to navigate their way through a pandemic, school closures and its aftermath. Now that the exams are finally over, there’s just one last box to tick off: what to do after school.
Despite the wide range of options on offer to school leavers, the CAO application process will dominate the thoughts of most students.
In fact, applications for third-level college courses are on track to reach a record high this year with 83,447 applications at last count, up from 77,049 a year ago.
For applicants, there are some important pointers to bear in mind in advance of the CAO deadline next week.
1. Deadline day: July 1st, 5pm
Other than for a small group of “restricted application” courses, this is the last chance for any CAO applicant to add, subtract or amend in any way the courses they wish to apply for honours degree (level eight) or ordinary degrees (level six/seven) courses. All such amendments must be completed online by 5pm on Tuesday, July 1st.
2. Watch out for discontinued CAO courses
Some applicants may decide they are happy with the course list they submitted before the initial February 1st deadline. This would be a serious error.
The online handbook available (cao.ie) was compiled this time last year. Since then, some courses have been discontinued, while many new ones have been added by colleges as they progress through their internal approval process.
In short, no CAO applicant should allow the 1st July deadline pass without reviewing their course choice lists.
3. Points may drop across many courses
With the deflation of exam results, it likely there will be a reduction in points across many courses. So, if you feel a programme is outside your points range, you might be surprised.
Another factor involved in driving down entry points is greater supply of places. On June 11th last, the Government approved a significant expansion in training places for health and social care professions which will see up to 320 additional student places created in 2025 (and a further 141 in subsequent years). The immediate expansion will be in nine areas: physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, radiation therapy, radiography, podiatry, social work, medical science, and dietetics. These areas may well see further points reductions.
4. Study locally, commute or secure accommodation?
Every year some CAO applicants are thrilled to secure their first choice course in August, only to realise that college accommodation is either extremely scarce or outside their budget. Remember, you cannot move down your list of CAO course preferences, so choose carefully.
It is worth checking with individual colleges about how to join the list of applicants for on-campus accommodation, if there is any. The reality is that our housing crisis continues to play a very significant role in the choices of those seeking third level places throughout the country.
Some technological universities – which are closer to many people than the traditional universities in big cities – are an option too.
5. Check your spam
Every year some students achieve excellent results but do not receive any college offers. Why? It often turns out that they missed a crucial “statement of application” email from the CAO, seeking to confirm their personal details. In many cases, these emails end up in applicants’ spam folders.
In these cases, the student’s exam number may be missing – so the CAO has no way of connecting their results with their applications.
This year the CAO began sending out “statement of application” emails to Leaving Cert candidates from May 7th onwards asking them to confirm their details.
On May 29th, the CAO sent a reminder email to those applicants who had not yet confirmed their account information, and a “final reminder” on Thursday just gone.
It is up to the candidate to spot and correct these details.
6. Further education and training opportunities
It’s not all about the CAO and there are now more pathways than ever for school leavers.
Further education and training courses are an excellent option (fetchcourses.ie). For some, they are a destination; for others, they are a stepping stone to third level.
Places on all further education programmes are allocated by each individual college and applications are available online on each of their websites. There is no deadline, but all places are allocated on a first come first served basis, based on suitability.
Tertiary degrees are another option (nto.ie): students begin their studies at a local further education college before seamlessly progressing to higher education, without the need for any CAO points. More than 40 of these degree courses are available for students starting in September 2025.
Apprenticeships, too, are well worth exploring (apprenticeship.ie). In addition to traditional options, there are lots of degree-level options in areas such as biopharma, engineering, finance and insurance.
