College Choice/Brian Mooney:The guidance counsellors staffing the Irish Times helpline service have been busy dealing with queries over the past two days. The following are some of the issues of most concern to students and their parents.
I failed Ordinary Level Maths. What can I do now?
This issue is the number one concern of callers to the helpline.
Realistically, the option facing these students is that they are limited in their range of educational and career options. The colleges would be well advised to reflect on the words of Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin on this issue and immediately recognise foundation level maths as meeting the entry requirement for courses where maths itself is not a major component of the course provided. Congratulations to Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, which has led the way on this issue.
What will the CAO points requirement be for particular courses?
The answer to this question is simple; today nobody knows, not the colleges, not even the CAO itself.
Later this morning every college admissions officer in the Republic meets in Galway to indicate the number of places which the CAO should offer on behalf of every course in the system.
Given that colleges endeavour to fill all places on round one if possible, they operate like airlines, offering more places than they have, on the expectation that a percentage of students will always turn down the courses offered or choose to defer acceptance of their place for a year.
How does the CAO offer process work?
The CAO enters the number of places per course into their computer system, alongside the exam results of all applicants.
The computer then fills the places on each course, starting with each student's first choice and points total, based on their Leaving Certificate results. When the process is complete, a list of student names appears, starting with the student who gained 600 points and finishing with the name of the last person to be offered a place. It is the last student's points total that is published by the CAO as the minimum requirement to get a place on that course.
The course each student is offered is the highest one, on either or both of their higher degree and certificate/ordinary degree lists, for which they have the points required. It does not matter if the course is your first choice or your 10th choice. If it is the highest one on your list, for which you score highly enough to be within the number of places offered, you will get the offer of the place.
If, following round one offers, a course higher up either of your lists becomes available (because not enough students accepted the places offered to them in round one), you will be offered that place. You may then accept it or stay with the one you originally accepted.
What do I do if I fall just short of the minimum entry points for my desired course when the CAO offers places next Monday morning?
You can wait to see if the points needed drop in round two offers, or you can apply to view a number of your exam papers to see if any of them warrant applying for a re-check.
You must return the form requesting a review of specific scripts to your school by Tuesday next and you must be available on either September 1st or 2nd to review them in your local school.
Given the scarcity of quality accommodation, should I gamble on securing my place on Monday and book it over the weekend based on my Leaving Certificate results?
This depends on the amount of money required to secure the accommodation. Anything greater than a month's charge would be a big gamble, unless of course your points amount to well in excess of last year's requirement.
How many CAO points have I secured?
We also had many callers seeking help in calculating points, particularly where a student had a Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme result. The CAO calculates your points based on your best six grades, including those awarded to students who took the LCVP.
Many have called for the State Examinations Commission to provide a points total as part of the student's result.
Given that students use their Leaving Certificate to follow a wide range of educational and employment opportunities, the SEC may not see it as their job to indicate how many points colleges will allocate to a particular student's result. Furthermore, given that UL, for example, gives bonus points for higher-level maths, students' points could differ from college to college.
I want to study nursing but don't think I will have enough points?
Pre-nursing programmes, offered in VEC colleges at PLC level throughout the country, provide a small group of students each year with the opportunity to enter nursing training by allocating a small number of places each year to graduates of these programmes. Realistically, only those students who gain distinctions in all eight modules in their pre-nursing course stand a chance of securing a place through this route.
The Post-Leaving Certificate option
For many students there are a huge variety of places and courses available in the many excellent Further Education (FE) courses. There is no centralised application system for PLC courses because each VEC college handles its own applications. If you have not already considered this option, details on all such courses are available from the chart in The Irish Times supplement published last Wednesday.
Following an Apprenticeship
Nine thousand students took this option last year. Students interested in securing an apprenticeship must themselves seek out and get the agreement of a registered tradesperson to offer them an apprenticeship. It is only then that they can register with Fás as a trainee apprentice. Information can be obtained from your local Fás office.
• Brian Mooney's column will appear daily in the run-up to the CAO first-round and second-round offers. The Irish Times Helpline is available from 8am today and again from Monday, when the CAO makes first-round offers.
Experienced guidance counsellors are available to take your call.
You can call free on the following number: Helpline 1800-946-942