CAO Round 2: Another 4,180 college places up for grabs

Students now have until Wednesday at 3pm to accept their offer.

A further 4,180 offers of college places were issued on Monday to students as part of Round 2 of the college offers process.

The Central Applications Office (CAO) offers include 2,908 level 8 courses, and 1,272 level 7/6 courses, to 3,732 applicants.

Of this, 1,291 applicants are receiving an offer for the first time.

Among the recipients of level 8 offers, 1,389 students received an offer of their first preference course.

For level 7/6 offer recipients, a total of 1,059 applicants’ first preference offers were received.

Students have until this Wednesday, September 21, at 3pm to accept their offer.

Eileen Keleghan, head of communications with the CAO, advised applicants to carefully consider their options and to be mindful of the close deadline.

“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 of this Wednesday, September 21, at 3pm if they wish to accept the new offer.

Accepting the new offer will automatically cancel a previous acceptance. 

“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.

“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 students who have been unsuccessful in receiving an offer, options include further education courses, apprenticeship schemes, reapplying through CAO next year, or repeating the Leaving Certificate, she added.

“The Available Places facility also has over 150 courses advertised, and some additional offers will be issued on a weekly basis from today until mid-October."

Round 3 offers will be available to view from 10am on Tuesday, September 27.