Things will be looking up for some students

Points are unchanged for most courses in the second round – but there is still some good news for some . . .

THIS MORNING, there is good news for a minority of students in the second round. But the most striking feature is the small number of changes overall.

In most cases, the dramatic increase in points witnessed in the first round has not been reversed.

There are some significant changes. Electronic engineering at NUI Maynooth is down from 360 to 320; engineering at Cork IT down 35 points to 310 and property economics at DIT is down from 320 to 275.

Other changes? Primary teaching at Mary Immaculate is down marginally to 465 (random selection), international business at UL is down from 445 to 430 and biomedical science is down by ten points at NUI Galway to 540.

At TCD, there is a drop in points for maths (down twenty to 545), occupational therapy (down five to 510 ) and science (down ten to 500.)

At UCD, changes include a drop in actuarial studies to 560 (down five) and nursing, down five to 425.

You will see a full list of all changes on pages 4, 5 and 6 in this supplement.

Any applicant who has not secured a course that satisfies their needs through this round of offers, can still over the coming week apply for any of the remaining published vacant place courses and receive an offer of a place on that programme in the weeks ahead.

Several hundred offers have also been made to students where data errors – either within the Leaving Certificate result, or in the information held within the students own CAO files – have been discovered over the past week.

For example, if a candidate failed to inform the CAO of a previous Leaving Certificate sitting, at which they had met a minimum entry requirement, they may not have received an offer even though they meet the entry requirements.

A number of courses have seen a drop in points, where there were places left on a course after the first round acceptances had come in.

In those circumstances, the colleges in question have instructed the CAO to offer an additional number of students a place on the course in question.

In the case of these courses, the points published in this supplement have dropped down from those required in round one last week.

Where the list of initial applicants, who met all of the minimum entry requirements, has been fully exhausted, the college will indicate this by indicating “Any Qualified Applicant” or AQA.

Applicants who had previously secured an exemption in Irish, but had failed to register it with the National University of Ireland, will also have received offers this morning. Where possible, the colleges have offered places to such applicants.

Unfortunately, where the level of round one acceptance by applicants is very high, colleges sometimes won’t have any places available following round one acceptances.

Errors in the provision of accurate information on the part of applicants can result in the loss of a place that would otherwise have been secured.

Also receiving offers this morning are candidates who received and accepted one of their choices (but not their first one) on their CAO list. They now have the opportunity to move up to a higher choice on their list of preferences.

If you receive such a choice this morning, you can either stick with the place you have accepted in round one, or you can accept the place offered to you today and transfer your acceptance over to that course. The choice is entirely yours.

If today did not bring you what you want, you still have a few days to get an application into the State Examinations Commission to appeal the marking on any of your Leaving Certificate papers. All appeal applications must be with them by 5.30pm on Wednesday, September 5th. The fee per standard Leaving Certificate subject, refundable in the case of a successful appeal, is € 40. The fees are payable by bank giro form provided by the SEC, through any bank, or by credit card over the internet.

According to the SEC, many candidates return their appeal form without proof of payment.

Make sure you include either the stamped personalised bank giro, or the internet confirmation record of credit card payment, with your application. Incomplete applications can invalidate the appeal request.

If the re-check leads to a higher grade, the payment will be refunded. In 2011 over 5,000 candidates made applications for appeals against almost 10,000 grades leading to about 2,000 upgrades – a success rate of over 20 per cent.

If you have been offered a place today, you have a week to consider whether you wish to accept or reject the place.