CAO offers more than 3,100 college places to students in Round Two

The Central Applications Office (CAO) has issued Round Two of this year’s CAO offers process to more than 2,800 students. File picture

More than 3,100 further college place offers have been issued to students this Monday afternoon.

The Central Applications Office (CAO) has issued Round Two of this year’s CAO offers process to more than 2,800 students. Of this, 978 students are receiving an offer for the first time.

The 3,105 college place offers issued to students on Monday includes a total of 2,106 Level 8 course places and 999 Level 7/6 course places.

When it comes to Level 8 honours degree courses, a total of 1,131 students received an offer for their first preference course. For Level 7/6 offer recipients, a total of 845 students’ first preference offers were received.

Students should carefully consider their options and be mindful of Wednesday’s 3pm reply date by which an offer must be accepted, according to CAO head of communications Eileen Keleghan.

“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 and inform CAO before the reply date of this Wednesday, September 13, at 3pm if they wish to accept the new offer.”

“Accepting the new offer will automatically cancel a previous acceptance,” she added.

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.

However, Ms Keleghan warned: “It is important to note 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, or their preferred offer, there are many options, Ms Keleghan added.

This includes further education courses that offer qualifications in their own right as well as opportunities to progress to third-level; apprenticeship schemes; re-applying through CAO next year; or repeating the Leaving Certificate.

“The Available Places facility also has over 160 courses advertised, and some additional offers will be issued on a weekly basis from today until early October." 

Students who have already received an offer in a previous round are advised by the CAO to accept the new offer by the 'Reply Date' of Wednesday, September 13, at 3pm if they prefer this course to the one that they have already accepted. This action automatically cancels the previous acceptance.

Students who do not wish to accept the new offer can simply do nothing and their previous acceptance will still stand.

Students who wish to defer their current offers must contact the admissions office of the offering institution directly and immediately by email with the text 'Deferred Entry' in the subject line of the email.

The Available Places facility is free to existing applicants and open to new applications for a fee of €45. Available Place offers are issued from Round Two.

Round Three offers will be available to view from 10am on Tuesday, September 19.