GOOD news! Twenty one courses in the RTC system have vacant places after Round One and are advertising for new applicants from today.
This follows many years in which there was not a single place left after the first round. It is obviously a reflection of the fall in applications due to reduced numbers sitting the Leaving Certificate.
It is a bit like the "clearing" system in the UK colleges, with spare places left over from Round One being offered to new applicants. Students who have already applied to the CAO/CAS (regardless of whether they have received an offer) need only write to the CAO citing the course they are interested in from the vacancies list; no fee is necessary, but do quote your CAO serial number and make sure you give your name as it appears on your CAO application form.
Students who have made no application to the CAO may also apply. In this case, you write or telephone the CAO asking for a late application form (091 5633 18/563269 and leave your request on the answering machine), fill this out and return it with a fee of £18. It is also possible to call in person to the CAO office in Eglinton Street, Galway.
. VACANT PLACES
THE are the courses which are registering vacancies.
. Sligo RTC: SG103 Marketing/ German; SG104 Marketing/ Spanish, SG132 European Studies/German; SG133 European 232 Industrial Design; SG302 Construction Studies; SG303 Mechanical Engineering; SG305 Electronic Engineering; SG431 Analytical and Environmental Chemistry/Quality Control.
. Limerick RTC: LC002 Accounting Technician; LC009 Marketing Management; LC014 Accountancy (ACCA);
. Letterkenny RTC: LY002 Accounting Technician; LY005 Coras Eolais Oifige; LY008 Civil Engineering; LY009 Construction Studies; LY010 Electronic Engineering; LY011 Mechanical Engineering, LY015 Graphic Design; LY016, Industrial Design (the college will or anise a special practical assessment in the case of the previous two courses); LY018 Office Information Systems/Languages, LY007 Languages/European Studies (applicants must have at least a C in higher level French or German.
. Dundalk RTC: It has vacancies on DK001 Electronics (product development). A B in pass maths is required, DK004 Business, studies (accounting), a minimum of three higher Cs in the Leaving Cert required.
Vacancies in other colleges be advertised over the next week. Many of the above courses are very attractive. Electronic engineering features twice, and the jobs situation for electronic technicians is very good. The fact that Sligo RTC has vacancies in four language based courses is also interesting. One of the big employment growth areas is for those with language skills to work in teleservices and computer technical support services. Letterkenny also has vacancies in a language based, course.
The analytical chemistry course in Sligo is particularly interesting as it is a three year diploma course, so, the student is straight into a diploma without the need for transfer. It offers the possibility of transfer to the one year B.Sc degree course in the RTC in year four. The construction studies and civil engineering courses should also be of interest given the current construction industry boom.
Exactly what is involved in the courses is not often clear to students, says Padraic Cuffe of Sligo RTC. "In the case of mechanical engineering, construction studies and electronics in this college we have follow on diplomas in industrial automation, construction economics and tool design. We then also have a follow on degree in quality assurance, so students have route right through to a degree."
. NO OFFER
MANY CALLERS to this column feel they have the points but have not got a college offer. This could be because a particular subject grade is required. Thus, a student could have the points for commerce at UCD, but no offer will be forthcoming if they do not have a B in ordinary level maths. Some students will have forgotten to list a previous Leaving Cert on their application form. There are many such specific requirements.
In cases where a genuine mistake has been made in calculating a students points, the CAO will rectify it and the place will be offered in Round Two.
Students who are reasonably certain they have been under credited with points should Point this out to their college admissions office and seek to have it rectified - but make sure you are calculating correctly and are counting six subjects.
Inevitably, too, a small number of mistakes will have occurred in correlating Leaving Cert results - it would be impossible not to have the odd mistake. Sometimes the Exams Branch discovers such errors itself, and other times they come to light when a recheck is requested. The first step in a recheck is to do a check for clerical errors, if such is found, then the resultant upgrading is taxed to the CAO immediately.)
Some of our callers, already upgraded in this fashion, were worried that they had not got their entitled place in Round One. It is simply that there was not time to include them; the offer will come in Round Two.
. PLC RESERVED PLACES
THIS IS a relatively new category within the CAO/CAS system It involves the reserving of 1,000 certificate/diploma places in the RTCs and the DIT for students who have successfully completed PLC courses with an NCVA (National Council for Vocational Awards) qualification. With such an NCVA award, regardless of points, such students can qualify for a reserved place.
It's an attractive option and one more good reason for opting for a PLC place.
But there is a lot of confusion surrounding how these places are allocated.
Dundalk and Sligo RTCs offered these reserved places in Round Zero in the CAO schedule. (These are offers which are not dependent on this year's leaving Cert results and which go out a week ahead.) Dundalk reports an uptake of 60 places from this and Sligo has also got a high uptake.
However, Carl ow RTC made its PLC reserve offers in Round One. Limerick RTC, meanwhile, will not be making any such offers until Round Two.
It seems to vary considerably among the colleges, leaving many PLC applicants in a dither: they had to make a decision on the Dundalk/Sligo offers before they know what they are being offered from other colleges.
The smart move is to accept whatever you were offered on Round Zero, then accept anything else preferable offered on Round One - and then accept again on Round Two if you get something more desirable there. It's daft, I know, but each acceptance cancels the other out.
By next year hopefully, the colleges will have co ordinated their offers schedules for PLC reserves.
. FREE FEES
WE RECEIVED some queries about the free fees scheme. Fees still apply in the College of Surgeons though students eligible to a grant can have their fees paid by their local authority. Non grant students must pay fees but their parents can claim income tax relief on them.
The free fees scheme does apply in the case of the National College of Industrial Relations (NCIR), where students will not have to pay fees.
Limerick Tutorial College:
The fees listed for repeat Leaving Cert courses here should have read £1,800-£1,900 (depending on method of payment), plus the exam fee of £125.
. RANDOM SELECTION
IT IS frustrating for applicants who have reached the points for a particular course but failed to get a place because of random selection. Random selection comes into effect when a college has, say, 10 places left in medicine and 20 applicants with 570 points.
A computer programme is applied to all CAO/CAS applicants after the closing date; a number which is totally different from the CAO serial number is allocated at random to each applicant. When there is a "bunching" on a points level, as in the above example, the random, numbers, are called up and put in numerical order; this creates a waiting list and applicants are taken in strict rotation from this list.
It is effectively a form of computerised lottery, but so far nobody has come up with a better way of doing it.