Second round CAO offers delivered this morning

Some 2,226 applicants who did not get the course of their choice when the Central Applications Office (CAO) issued the first round of college places last week were informed this morning that they were successful the second time around.

A total of 1,613 Level 8 offers, and 724 Level 7/6 offers, were made in this round and 771 applicants are receiving an offer for the first time.

A total of 2,337 offers were issued in round two. This represents a significant drop on the 3,308 applicants who received new, or in some cases their first, offer from the CAO in the same round last year.

Of those who received Level 8 offers this year, 743 received an offer of their first preference course; for Level 7/6 offer recipients a total of 486 applicants’ first preference offers were received.

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Students have until Friday to accept if they receive an offer.

The number of places offered in round two are always far lower than those issued in round one and last week, the CAO issued 73,652 round one offers to 50,746 CAO applicants.

Deadline

In a statement issued on Wednesday, CAO communications officer, Eileen Keleghan, advised applicants to carefully consider their options and to be mindful of this Friday’s 5.15pm deadline by which an offer must be accepted.

The acceptance window has narrowed this year after changes were introduced by the higher education institutions to ensure applicants can receive and accept an offer in advance of registration, which for most institutions commences next week.

Ms 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 the CAO before the reply date.”

“Accepting the new offer will automatically cancel a previous acceptance,” she added.

“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. 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.”

Following this round, a weekly schedule of offers and acceptances will continue from September 7th until the last offer round is issued on October 17th.

Email notification

CAO applicants can check to see if they have received an offer by going online at cao.ie and logging on to their account using the “My Application” facility.

Successful applicants will also receive an offer notification via email and SMS text message if they have selected this option on their application form.

“For those who have been unsuccessful in receiving an offer (or their desired offer) there are many options, including further education courses which offer qualifications in their own right as well as opportunities to progress to third-level; apprenticeship schemes; taking a year out and reapplying through the CAO next year; or repeating the Leaving Certificate,” Ms Keleghan said.

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.

The facility is available free of charge to existing applicants and is open to new applications for a €40 fee. It will remain open until early October or until all places have been filled.

The Irish Times will provide coverage online, in mobile and in print, covering the offers and featuring news, analysis and expert opinion at irishtimes.com/cao