Second round CAO offers delivered this morning

Just over 1,600 CAO applicants who did not get the course of their choice when the Central Applications Office (CAO) issued the first round of college places earlier this month were informed this morning that they were successful the second time around.

The CAO issued 2,703 offers - including a total of 1,611 Level 8 offers, and 1,092 Level 7/6 offers - to 2,513 CAO applicants in this round.

A total of 971 applicants are receiving an offer for the first time.

Of the recipients of Level 8 offers, 793 received an offer of their first preference course; for Level 7/6 offer recipients a total of 853 applicants’ first preference offers were received.

Thousands to accept CAO offer by deadline

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Applicants were able to check to see if they received an offer by going online at cao.ie from 10am and logging on to their account using the "My Application" facility.

There was no postal offer notice in the second round and applicants have until Friday to accept if they receive an offer.

The number of places offered in round two is always far lower than that issued in round one. The CAO issued 74,657 round one offers to 51,513 applicants earlier this month but the round two offers are usually in the low thousands.

Friday deadline

Applicants should carefully consider their options and to be mindful of this Friday’s 5.15pm deadline (August 30th) by which an offer must be accepted.

CAO communications officer, Eileen Keleghan said: “Many of the applicants receiving a second round offer today may have already accepted an offer in Round One, and it is important that they take the time to decide between these courses and inform CAO before the reply date of this Friday, 30 August at 5.15pm if they wish to accept the new offer.”

Accepting a lower preference course in an earlier round does not prevent appplicants from receiving an offer in a subsequent round of a course higher up on their course choices list - if they are deemed eligible although accepting the new offer will automatically cancel the previous acceptance.

“If this is an applicant’s first offer they can choose to accept this offer and this will not prevent them from receiving a higher preference course in a later offer round if they are deemed eligible,” Ms Keleghan said.

“It is important to note, however, that the majority of offers have been issued at this stage and this may be the only offer that they will receive,” she added.

Available places

Applicants who are unhappy with the course they have been offered, or those who have not received any offers, can check the “Available Places” facility on the CAO website .

This option is where courses that remain unfilled are offered once all other offers have been made. Applicants who wish to consider this option can select it in the “My Application” section of the CAO website. The available places section o f currently has almost 200 courses advertised.

Where there has been particular interest in a vacant places course, and the number of new applicants exceeds the number of places left, the normal CAO rules apply, where those with the highest points secure the offer.

The list of vacant places will continue to be published on the CAO website over the coming weeks or for as long as places are on offer.

For applicants who received an offer of a course other than their first preference, read here.

For an in-depth look at vacant places and other options for students who did not get the choice they had hoped for, read here.

For applicants who have already received an offer in a previous offer round, CAO provides the following advice:

1. Accept the new offer by the ‘Reply Date’ of Friday, August 30th at 5.15pm if you prefer this course to the one that you have already accepted - this action automatically cancels your previous acceptance.

2. If you do not wish to accept the new offer you can simply do nothing and your previous acceptance will still stand.

3. If you wish to defer your current offer you must contact the Admissions Office of the offering institution immediately by email with the text ‘Deferred Entry’ in the subject line of the email. See CAO Handbook page 19 or the CAO website for more information.

The CAO Available Places facility remains open, with almost 200 courses with available places advertised - this facility is free to existing applicants, and open to new applications for a fee of €45. Available Place offers will be issued from Round Two. Round Three offers will be available to view from 06:00am on Friday, September 6th.