With industrial action in second-level schools fast receding, hopeful school-leavers gathering for this year's Higher Options Conference at the RDS could be forgiven for feeling a little fortunate.

Not only have they managed to avoid the bitter ASTI strike (at least for now), they are also faced with a dizzying number of third-level options and career paths of which generations before them could only dream.

With such glimmering opportunities, comes confusion. There are now over 750 courses in the CAO system. Whereas in the late 1970s and early 1980s there were fewer than 100. Modern students, whether they are fifth or sixth years, have the unenviable task of making sense of this huge provision.

Guidance counsellors can only do so much, and the ratio of pupils to guidance teachers has often been described as a scandal. The offices of most guidance teachers nowadays are swamped by paper, prospectuses, leaflets and CAO handbooks.

One teacher told me recently he could easily fill two skips with all the material which has accumulated in his office.

The conference is one of the few occasions when students and their teachers can talk directly to those behind all the paper. More importantly the conference provides an opportunity to talk to them under the one roof.

There will be more than 200 stands this year with education institutions ranging from the University of Oxford to St George's University in the West Indies showing off their wares.

While in previous years Irish students concentrated on getting a place or getting a job, they now have very specific wishes. The figures from the CAO for the class of 2000/2001 illustrate this. Almost half of degree applicants got their first preference with over 90 per cent of certificate/diploma candidates getting one of the first three choices. This shows that students and their parents know what they want and know how to use the system to get it.

With youth populations falling all over Europe, including here, colleges are having to work harder than ever to recruit students. As you will witness at the conference their staff are eager to talk you through the options and make you are aware of what is unique about their college or sector.

As you browse through the material on the stands, do not feel put off by fellow students who seem to have their whole career mapped out with military precision. Concentrate on yourself and extract as much information out of the event as you can.

While it is probably detrimental for the rain forests, you should ideally come home with plenty of reading material which you and your parents can refer to, at your leisure, later in the year. But if you regard yourself as a blank canvas, do not despair, many students have no idea what course, job or direction they want to take after school.

The conference opens with several good all-round introductory talks which should go some way towards filling your head with some formative ideas. The How To Choose Your Career talk attracted huge numbers last year, and you should make sure of your place this year.

With about 8,500 students expected each day, you should make sure you are organised and turn up for the various talks on time. The other piece of advice for a conference like this is to keep an open mind.

In reality very few students will have made up their mind on anything yet. All they have are some general hunches about what they like and what they don't like.

You may never see yourself studying in Britain and decide the talk from UCAS (the UK third-level admissions service) does not apply to you. But that conclusion is based on your position now.

It could change and then you will have to start your research from scratch. Instead take in as much information as possible and discuss courses and options which might not normally be your thing.

With most of the media interest each year revolving around CAO, students and their parents can become obsessed with getting a CAO place. As the high dropout rates in some Institutes of Technology illustrate, not everyone is suited to a conventional CAO third-level course.

That is why other options outside CAO are a staple feature of the RDS event. This year there are stands featuring An Garda S∅ochβna, CERT, the Defence Forces and the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commission. The Nursing Careers Centre will also have a stand, although nursing places are now allocated through the CAO too.

Unlike the doom-laden 1980s, nowadays students are very much in control of the relationship between themselves and the colleges/employers.

Points are generally on the way down and most companies are having recruitment difficulties, so this should empower you to find exactly what you want.

But information should inform that decision and this is the chance to get it. While much of the literature aimed at you in the RDS will be painfully detailed, you should probably concentrate on the wider picture. What areas interest you? What colleges target those areas? What do you need to get there?

There will be plenty of time for working out the minute details of minimum entry requirements and random selection, at this stage use the conference to map out the broad parameters of your future.