CAO issues more than 4,000 second-round offers

The round-two offers come after points soared for many courses this year, with a record number breaching the 600 points entry requirement in round one.

More than 4,000 offers were issued by the Central Applications Office (CAO) on Monday, in the second round of the process.

The round two offers come after points soared for many courses this year, with a record number breaching the 600 points entry requirement in round one.

On Monday, the CAO issued 4,135 offers to applicants in round two of the CAO offers process.

A total of 2,859 level 8 offers, and 1,276 level 7/6 offers, were made to 3,619 CAO applicants in this round.

Some 1,452 applicants are receiving an offer for the first time.

Of the recipients of level 8 offers, 1,346 received an offer of their first-preference course; for level 7/6 offer recipients, a total of 1,063 applicants’ first-preference offers were received.

Applicants receiving an offer in this round will have until Wednesday September 22 at 3pm to accept their offer.

Eileen Keleghan, CAO communications officer, advised applicants to carefully consider their options.

“Many of the applicants receiving a second-round offer today may have already accepted an offer in round one, and it is important that they take the time to decide between these courses. Accepting the new offer will automatically cancel a previous acceptance,” she said.

If this is an applicant’s first offer, they can choose to accept this offer and this will not prevent them from receiving a higher-preference course in a later offer round if they are deemed eligible.” 

She added: “It is important to note, however, that the majority of offers have been issued at this stage and this may be the only offer that they will receive.” 

For those who have been unsuccessful in receiving an offer or their desired offer, there are many options, including further education courses. apprenticeship schemes, reapplying through the CAO next year, or repeating the Leaving Certificate.

The available places facility also has almost 200 courses advertised, and some additional offers will be issued on a weekly basis from today until mid-October, Ms Keleghan added.