Hundreds of applications submitted for vacant college courses

HUNDREDS of people have applied for vacant places on college courses since they have been offered on the CAO website in the past few days.

The numbers submitting applications between midday on Tuesday and yesterday afternoon included 57 people who had not yet applied to the CAO this year. The vacant places facility is open to anybody applying for the first time, but mature students and those applying for restricted courses should contact the admission office of the college concerned first.

The CAO also recorded 224 applications for around 50 courses from the list of Level 8 honours degrees with places available, while 340 applications were made for courses on the Level 7/6 (ordinary degree/higher certificate) list. However, it is not clear how many people might have applied to more than one course.

The 150 courses offering vacant places are dominated by programmes in business, engineering and computing, reflecting an overall fall in demand for qualifications in these sectors. Of more than 44,700 people offered college places on Monday morning, more than 18,500 accepted the course up to yesterday. Just under half of those offered a Level 8 course have been given the chance to study their first preference, but this proportion rises above 75% for those who received an offer of a Level 7/6 course place.The second round of CAO offers will be made on Friday week, September 1 when around 4,000 students are likely to be offered a higher preference from their chosen courses or to receive an offer for the first time.

Roisin Kelleher, former president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, said anybody who has been offered a course from down the list on their application should think about it carefully. “Be sure to research it if you don’t know the details of a course already, before making a decision. But nobody should give up hope on the later round of CAO offers either,” she said.