CAO day: As of this morning, 75% of applicants have course offers

Three-quarters of this year’s record 81,000 third-level college applicants have now been offered a course after the bulk of this autumn’s places are allocated this morning.

The 52,289 people who have been notified of a chance to take up one of their chosen college programmes brings to just over 60,000 the number offered a place so far this year by the Central Applications Office (CAO).

While more than 7,100 places had already been filled in earlier rounds over the past seven weeks by some overseas mature students and other applicants, it is the 47,000 CAO hopefuls who sat the Leaving Certificate in June who make up the bulk of those getting an offer today.