THE REPEAT Leaving Cert scramble seems more likely to be among schools pursuing students than among students seeking places this year. The fall of 7,000 sitting the Leaving plus the unprecedented numbers being offered college places seems toe have put a brake on the numbers opting for repeats. And assuming that the universities provide the promised additional few hundred places in later CAO rounds, then the demand for repeat places could fall even further.
Points Race has spoken to a number of colleges which have reported a fall off in demand for their repeat places, though the big Dublin City VEC colleges and Cork College of Commerce have experienced a brisk demand so far. According to official Department of Education statistics, the numbers repeating have fallen in recent years.
And many students are aware that, though overall Leaving Cert numbers are down this year, the numbers sitting the exam next year will be substantially higher as those who stayed on for Transition Year three years ago come on stream for the Leaving on top of the normal cohort for the year. Students, therefore, are reckoning that it is quite likely to be considerably more difficult to get into college next year.
A "bird in the hand approach would therefore indicate that to take what is on offer this year may be preferable to repeating if points jump again next year, they may not even get what was offered to them this year. It's a thought worth pondering. A number of colleges have discontinued repeats this year and several others are quite jittery about possible enrolments.
Jittery, too, are many of the PLC colleges; with so many students offered RTC places - and vacancies advertised in four colleges so far - they worry to what extent demand for PLC places will be affected. The biggies, such as Ballyfermot Senior College, Colaiste Dhulaigh and other big VEC colleges in Dublin, plus the College of Commerce in Cork, are doing very well and are full or nearly full in many courses; but plenty of others are waiting with bated breath to see what happens.
It's not all one way traffic and some of the bigger PLC colleges report students turning down certificate course offers in RTCs in favour of PLC places; so it cuts both ways. There must also be some concern among the ranks of private third level colleges as to how the fall in numbers and increase in CAO offers will affect their enrolments. The private colleges have the additional problem this year that the Northern Ireland authorities have decided to no longer grant aid students coming to private colleges in the Republic. Some private colleges here relied quite extensively on Northern enrolments and may experience a reduction because of this. But at the same time they have the compensating factor that home students can off set private college fees against income tax for the first time.
But it is clear that the fall in numbers has a trickle down effect
. REPEATS
. College of Commerce Cork (021-270777) is interviewing applicants for repeats on a walk-in basis so just go and walk in They've filled about 150 places so far, but can take another 170 or so.
. Dublin City VEC Colleges: They've been operating an appointments system this year. Students or parents can ring Ringsend (01 6684498), Rathmines (01 4975334), Plunkett College (01 8371680), Pearse College (01 4536661) and St Peter's Killester (01 8337686) for an appointment for next Wednesday, August 28th, or the following Monday, September 2nd, which is probably the day when most enrolments will take place, though we are unlikely to" see the queues of former years.
The colleges report a brisk "take up on the telephone appointments so far. Mary Lonergan, principal of Rathmines, says that "there is a lot of confusion out there with many high points students being offered lower preferences and not sure whether to repeat or take the place".
Colaiste Phadraigh, Lucan (01 6282299): They have about 50 places on a repeat Leaving Cert in this Christian Brothers school. The fees are the basic £100 repeat fee plus the £125 exam fee which is charged in most of the State funded colleges. Students whose families have a medical card do not have to pay the £100 fee in all State funded colleges - so if you possess one, bring it along.
. RTC OPEN DAYS
ANYONE holding an offer of a place in Tallaght RTC is invited to visit the campus and avail of information and advice between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. today. Carlow RTC has an information day on Tuesday week, September 3rd, but by that stage applicants will have to have accepted their first round offer. Still it is a useful idea.
. CAO PREFERENCES
MANY students who have had their first preference offered in the CAO/CAS list have been inquiring from our helpline if they could opt for their second or lower preference. The answer is no. Once you are offered your first preference, all your lower choices are wiped out - you have been offered what you most wanted according to your list of preferences, so that's you satisfied.
We encounter students who say: "Well I put electronic engineering down as my first choice, but I hadn't thought it through properly and now I have the points for computing which was my third preference; can I refuse my first choice and ask for my third?"
I'm afraid applicants should have thought that one through before now; it is not possible to change preferences after the Leaving Cert results come out. If people could do this, there would be chaos. So, do be aware that if you turn down your first preference on either list, you will not be offered anything else from that list.
Neither is it possible to juggle around offers for geographical reasons. The B Comm is registering 425 points in both UCC and UCD, for example. Some students from Cork may have got a UCD offer, but not a UCC one - UCC is on random selection, so they may not have been successful in the lottery. It might seem reasonable to argue, "It's the same points, why can I simply not take up the place in Cork?"
But that would mean depriving a student who had come higher on the random selection list of his/her place, so it is not reasonable.
It is entirely possible that someone who lives up the road from UCD will end up with a place in Cork or Galway, but you cannot allocate college places on the basis of geographical proximity. And for every person juggled around, the CAO would have to displace someone else.
. DEFERRALS
TO SECURE a college place which has been offered through the CAO, it is not absolutely necessary to take up the place this year. Most colleges will allow you to defer a place offer. All of the universities, the DIT and some of the RTCs provide for this. A deferral means that you say you want to accept the place, but you would like to defer taking it up for a year. The procedures vary slightly from college to college, but in most cases you do not send the acceptance form back to the CAO; instead, you write to the college's admissions office asking for a deferral. Some will ask for the £150 deposit, others will not.
The normal procedure then is that you will be able to apply again on the CAO form next year citing only that course and your place will be secure no matter what happens to points.
The colleges require you to give a reason for deferring; normally acceptable ones include wanting a break between school and college, wanting to spend a year in the workplace, financial reasons, going abroad for a year, being too young to go to college. Most colleges grant deferrals pretty liberally; the one reason not acceptable to most is that you want to repeat the Leaving Cert to try for another course.
A deferral is not an insurance policy to hold while you repeat; it is an acceptance deferred for a year and it is important to remember that. A student who decides to fill out a CAO form with something else as first preference next year simply loses the guarantee of the deferred place; you are then in the scramble for places with everyone else based on your points. So, really there is no point in seeking a deferral if what you really want is to repeat for something else.
A request for a deferral must reach the college's admissions office by the closing for CAO acceptances for that round. In the case of Trinity, requests for deferrals were only considered up to August 1st, so there is no point in trying them. For more specific details on deferral procedures, make sure to ring the colleges' admissions offices.