120 college courses to accept new applicants not registered with CAO

By Niall Murray, Education Correspondent

More than 120 third-level courses are open for fresh applications, even from students who did not apply for a college place yet.

From Monday, the courses will accept applications from those who have already registered with the Central Applications Office (CAO) but also first-time applicants.

The CAO will fill most of around 47,000 first-year places on courses at 39 colleges through its main Round 1 offer stage on Monday. In a change to the usual timeline, those who get an offer then will have up to Friday evening to accept if they wish — three days earlier than in previous years.

But the CAO’s “available places” facility also opens from midday next Monday, offering the option for students to choose a course they did not already apply for. There are around 120 courses listed on the CAO website, including almost 40 that lead to honours (level 8) degrees.

They might not have had enough applications to fill the course yet, or some courses may only have been added by a college late this year.

Rachel Andrews, head of the journalism faculty at Griffith College in Cork, said students come to them late for many reasons. The college’s three-year level 7 journalism degree is one of those for which applications will be accepted from Monday.

Sometimes it’s simply that they have not heard of the course in time. Or perhaps they have applied for something because all their friends are going to do it, and realise at the last minute it’s not for them,” she said.

“The students who take our course tend to really enjoy it, even if it initially wasn’t their first choice. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that we have small class sizes, so students have a very strong working relationship with their lecturers, and lecturers and students know each other very well.”

As well as private institutions like Griffith College, Maynooth University and several institutes of technology also have courses with places available to be applied for. Those who are already registered with CAO can simply add one or more of these courses to their existing list, while first-time applicants can apply for a fee.

As well as those who did the Leaving Certificate in June, this year’s 77,425 CAO applicants seeking entry to third-level colleges include more than 2,200 people applying with A-level exam results from Northern Ireland or Britain.

There are also applications from 17,360 people who hold a further education qualification, with post-Leaving Certificate courses run by education and training boards and other providers now proving a strong alternative route to third-level entry.

- The minimum points needed for the 1,300-plus courses filling places through the CAO this year will appear in the 12-page Choices for College supplement in Monday’s Irish Examiner.