TCD'S cobble-stoned quadrangles and UCD's modern campus were the two top choices with degree-level applicants last year.
It was a close-run race, with the two colleges only separated by 10 first-preference applications. (More than 8,000 applicants put each of the old Dublin universities in prime position on their CAO applications.)
Still, at degree level, Dublin Institute of Technology received the third highest number of first-preference applications at 6,701.
The number of first-preference applications is a function of the type of courses offered, the number of places and geographical location, as well as the popularity of the institute.
For instance, UCD is the only college to offer veterinary medicine while DIT is the only college to offer an optometry degree. Colleges in Dublin invariably receive more applications as they are drawing from the highest population base.
At certificate/diploma level DIT received a staggering 17,863 first preferences. Cork IT was next at 7,926, followed closely by Galway-Mayo IT with 7,405 first preferences.
