COLLEGE CHOICES/Emmet Oliver - Today: There is one day to go to get your college applications into the CAO and entering the system is as popular as ever.
There is one day to go before the CAO deadline. According to a CAO spokesman, more than 14,000 students have applied on-line at a cost of €20. Thousands of paper applications have also been sent to CAO headquarters, at a cost of €30.
Nobody knows the final total yet, but it looks like the option of entering the CAO system may be even more popular this year, with students who previously would have entered the workforce deciding instead to opt for a college place.
If you have submitted your form on time, the CAO will send you an acknowledgment slip in the next few days. This will only tell you your application has been received and is being processed.
On March 5th, the CAO will send you a statement listing the choices you have made. If you have not received this statement by then, write to the CAO immediately because as the handbook says, "failure to do so may have very serious consequences"'.
If there are problems or errors with the choices you have made, you do not need to contact the CAO at this stage, but there are two exceptions to this.
Mature students, because many of them have to do an interview or aptitude test, need to check this list carefully and contact the CAO if there is a problem. The second group which needs to be vigilant are students who have applied for restricted application courses.
If you have not included them in your original list, you certainly need to include them at this stage.
A CAO spokesman said if applicants forget a restricted application course (mainly art and design options) in their February 1st list, they still have this small window of opportunity to include them in early March.
For the vast majority of school-leavers, the March 5th statement should simply confirm what they put down either on-line or on paper in January. If you see a mistake or want to change your list, you can do it at this stage for €7, but you can do it for free in early May when a full statement of course choices, along with exam number and details, will be posted to you by the CAO.
Also included will be a change- of-mind form which you can use to alter your selection. In other words, you can forget about the CAO until early May, unless you are a mature student or have applied for a restricted application course. This change-of-mind form, sent out in early May, can be used up until July 1st. Theoretically you can change your mind every day between May and July 1st. After then you are locked into your choices, for good or ill.
There will be a small group who for various reasons have missed the February 1st deadline. They should submit a late application to CAO before May 1st, although they will be charged a fee of €40 (the on-line option) or €60 (paper application). These late applicants will have missed the restricted courses deadline, but most others will still be open to them. If you miss this deadline it is virtually the end of the line for you, although you can still apply for vacant places which crop up after the offers have been made. But if you are looking for a place in something like medicine or dentistry, forget it!
Other factors
Students trying to make last-minute third-level choices may be inclined to focus solely on the quality of the courses on offer. However, Dr Sarah Moore, Dean of Teaching and Learning at the University of Limerick, has a different perspective.
She says students should not forget about other factors. "There are many factors at third level that will determine whether you get what you want from the your time in college, and it's not just about the specifics of your course and your own hard work, although these are obviously important too.
"The range of experiences you have access to in college, particularly at the vital early stages, can have an enormous impact on how well you perform, how happy you are and how positive your overall third-level education will be."
She says research shows if you adjust well at the beginning of first year, it is less likely you will drop out later, even when subsequent obstacles or challenges arise. You should therefore carefully consider what facilities and services are offered by third-level institutions to help students cope with these particular challenges, she says.
It is not just a matter of having access to excellent sports and social facilities (considered a basic necessity today), but looking at what other support is on hand. Pertinent questions to ask include:
Is there somebody in the university to offer personal advice and guidance? What kind of wider support is provided to new entrants? Is supplementary assistance available to help you to tackle the most complicated aspects of your chosen course in the event that the going gets tough? How stimulating is the learning environment?
This is sensible advice. While all the talk at the moment is about courses, the facilities and back-up available in each college is also worth considering. In the meantime, it is back to study. Let somebody else worry about courses for a few months.
Pharmacy
Finally, some confusion has arisen about recognition for two new pharmacy courses at the Royal College of Surgeons and UCC.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland says it has not recognised either of these degrees. It has asked the Department of Health to amend its regulations to allow it to recognise degree courses in pharmacy other than the one provided by Trinity. To date, however, the regulations have not been amended and the status quo persists. In other words, the only pharmacy degree recognised by the society as of now is Trinity's.
Surgeons has submitted an application to the society for accreditation of its pharmacy course. Following lengthy consideration of the course content and structure, the Pharmaceutical Society has said it is willing to accredit the Surgeons course, but needs to have its regulations amended by the Department of Health.
UCC has not to date applied to the society for accreditation. This is far from helpful for students who will have to stay in touch with the colleges to see what transpires.
This is the final column in the series and our helpline is also ceasing. Both services will return later in the year during the offer season.