CAO: Big demand hits Round 2 college places

Almost 3,000 students have been offered some of the limited remaining third-level college places this morning.

After heavy demand and strong take-up of earlier offers, only 20 engineering or technology honours (level 8) degrees are offering places through the Central Applications Office (CAO).

It made Round 2 offers online at 6am and only 11 medical school places are being offered, all of them at University College Cork. The only veterinary medicine degree, at University College Dublin (UCD), offered entry to just one student.

Applicants for the main teaching degrees at St Patrick’s College in Dublin and Mary Immaculate College in Limerick were also disappointed as both are full since last week’s offers.

There are no places today at Dublin City University, and applicants to just three of Dublin Institute of Technology’s level 8 programmes have been offered entry. However, around 20 degrees at Trinity College Dublin still have places to offer, as do more than a dozen at UCD.

Colleges offered 3,126 places through the CAO today, with 225 people getting a choice from both their lists of honours (level 8) degree and level 7 or 6 courses.

The 2,901 people getting an offer include 1,162 not offered places in earlier rounds, almost identical to the equivalent figure a year ago. For 1,739 others, the courses offered to them this morning were higher on their order of preference in their CAO applications than those previously made available to them.

The deadline to accept offers made today is next Wednesday at 5.15pm.

“Many of the applicants receiving a second-round offer today may have already accepted an offer in Round 1, and it is important that they take the time to decide between these courses and inform CAO before the reply date if they wish to accept the new offer,” said CAO general manager Joe O’Grady.

Some 61,308 of this year’s total of more than 79,000 people registered with the CAO have now been offered some course, but several thousand did not apply for any courses.

With nearly 46,500 college places filled after the deadline for accepting last week’s offers passed on Monday, it looks almost certain that the record 47,017 people who were accepted onto study programmes through the CAO last year will be exceeded.

Places will be offered each week until mid-October, when the results of Leaving Cert grade appeals issue.