Sean Murray: There will still be plenty of CAO options going forward

Twins Hugh and Gabriel McCann from Presentation College, Athenry, Co. Galway delighted with their full points of 625 at their leaving cert results.

When speaking to students last week, amid the mixture of delight and relief at having got their results, there was that slight worry of a possible sting in the tail.

Yes, many were delighted with the points they’d achieved in the Leaving Certificate. 

And, going by last year’s CAO points requirements, they would’ve appeared to have what they needed to get one of their top preferences.

But there was a slight bit of doubt, even among the highest achievers.

“I should have enough...” 

“I think I’ll be grand...” 

“Looking good, just have to wait and see...” 

Such feelings were common as students reflected on their exam results last week.

After the last few years, they will have had good reason.

 Joyous students who received their Leaving cert results at the Gaelcholáiste in Carrigaline, Co. Cork. Picture: David Creedon

The bespoke Leaving Certs crafted to deal with the realities of the pandemic led to record high results, and in turn, record jumps in CAO points.

Before Covid, in 2019, just one course required more than 600 points. Last year, it was 22 courses.

And, furthermore, such was the demand for some courses that even some students who met the points requirements for their course weren’t offered it in the first round with it being allocated by random selection.

Cruel system

In a system that can already cruelly deny some students by just a couple of points, some who had enough didn’t even get offered their course.

While that still happened this year in numerous courses, the grades achieved by the class of 2022 are on par with their 2021 counterparts, ensuring we didn’t see the same level of points inflation for students again this year.

These similar grades were guaranteed by the government, with Minister Norma Foley vowing earlier in the year that the results “would be no lower, on aggregate” than last year.

The points for courses, still largely in line with last year’s record-breaking high, may present a problem in future, as the Government will have to plot a way forward in the wake of such high grades.

Nevertheless, the broadly on-par grades will have been a relief to students applying through the CAO this year.

CAO offers increase

In all, 57,296 CAO applicants received offers in the first round this year, which is up 2,000 on last year.

Over half (54%) of those who applied for a Level 8 course got offered their first choice. In all, 82% of Level 8 applicants got offered one of their top three preferences, which was up from 79% last year.

Students celebrating their Leaving Certificate results at Bishopstown Community School, Cork. Picture Denis Minihane.

This year, five courses required 625 points which is the highest possible points that can be achieved in the Leaving Cert, up one from last year. In the 18 courses which required 600 points or over this year, 10 are seeing places allocated via random selection.

Looking at the figures, we can see that points for many nursing and midwifery courses are down on last year. While lower points would usually indicate lower demand, it is likely that the 1,000 additional places created for in-demand courses such as nursing would’ve played a role here.

The vast majority of nursing courses saw their points requirements fall, including in Limerick, Trinity College, UCD and Galway.

Teaching courses

Points for primary teaching courses are also down slightly, while points for many general arts course rose.

There was a mixed bag in the sciences, with points rising and falling for similar courses across a number of institutions. One area which largely saw points rise was engineering with electronic engineering rising by over 80 points in Munster Technological University.

Students who didn’t get their first preference may still be offered it in the second round of offers. There will still be plenty of options going forward.

So, as students opened the CAO platform to see if they’d gotten an offer and what offer that was, some sage advice came from the Minister for Further Education Simon Harris.

“Take a minute, breathe and look around,” he said.