Wait nearly over as CAO first-round offers due on Monday

On Monday just under 80,000 prospective students will be able to access the first round of CAO offers to find out if they have secured a third-level course.

Round One offers will be available on the CAO website cao.ie from 6am on Monday. Paper offer notices will also be posted and the CAO says it expects most will be delivered on Monday.

This year the CAO acceptance window for round one offers is narrower than normal and applicants only have until 5.15 on Friday to accept their offer. Offers may be accepted online or by returning the appropriate part of the offer notice to the CAO.

The CAO has 77,425 applicants this year, slightly down on last year when 80,766 applied. The majority of applicants (45,928) are 2018 Leaving Cert students who received their exam results on Wednesday.

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The rest is made up of applicants from previous Leaving Cert years, other educational streams, abroad, repeat and change-of-mind students.

Over 2,200 applicants from Northern Ireland and Great Britain are presenting A levels, while 9,689 are mature applicants over 23-years of age.

The first round of offers constitutes the main body of offers that takes place after the results of the Leaving Cert have been made available.

The Irish Times CAO Helpdesk will operate from 8.30am at irishtimes.com/results2018. Guidance counsellors Brian Howard and Deirdre Garrett will be on hand until 6pm to answer any questions you have about your college applications .

The First Round Offers 2018 supplement will be distributed with Monday’s edition of The Irish Times. It will feature analysis of this year’s CAO points allocation and trends, full course listings along with hints and tips on planning for college.

Round Two offers will be available on the CAO website cao.ie from 10am on Wednesday, August 29th. There will be no paper offer notices for Round Two and the reply date for Round Two offers is no later than Friday, August 31st 5.15pm.