A quick guide to navigating CAO offers

Meadhbh Ni Chathasaigh, Maria De Barra Ni Mhurchu, Aisling Darby and Aoibhe Ni Dhuibhir, all Gaelcholaiste Choilm, Ballincollig, in Cork.

Guidance Counsellor, former teacher and chairperson of the Galway/Mayo branch of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, Claire Murphy answers some of the most common queries that arise when CAO offers come out to this year’s record number of over 83,000 applicants.

I got offered my first choice

Congratulations! If you are happy with the offer, log in and accept it before the reply date on your offer notice.

If you don’t accept the offer, it will be assumed you did not want the course. You will not be offered any more courses from the list that this course is on.

If I accept an offer, will I get any more offers?

You can accept your current offer, and you will still be considered for your higher preference courses in later offer rounds (if a place becomes available and you are deemed eligible). Accepting or not accepting your current offer will not prevent you from receiving subsequent offers of higher preference courses.

I want a to choose a course lower on my list

You cannot move down in your order of preference and you cannot now change your order of preference, unless there are available places in one of your desired courses. See the Available Places section of the CAO website.

I have accepted my offer. What now?

When you accept an offer, you will receive an e-mail from CAO. The offering institution will contact you about registration.

Any further enquiries should be addressed to the Admissions Office of the offering institution.

I have already accepted an offer and received a new offer. What to do?

n Accept the new offer by the ‘Reply Date’ if you prefer this course to the one that you have already accepted - this action automatically cancels your previous acceptance.

n If you do not wish to accept the new offer you can simply do nothing and your previous acceptance will still stand.

n  If you wish to defer your current offer do not accept it now, you must contact the Admissions Office of the offering institution immediately by email with the text ‘Deferred Entry’ in the subject line of the email. See CAO Handbook page 28 or the CAO website for more information.

I received an offer but don’t want it. What should I do?

You need take no further action. Your name will remain on the waiting list for any course(s) higher in your order of preference than your current offer.

How do I defer?

If you wish to defer an offer of a place, then you do not accept your offer.

Instead, you must email the Admissions Office of the appropriate HEI immediately. You must give your name as it appears on your CAO application, quote your CAO application number and the course code of the offer you wish to defer, and set out the reason(s) for the request.

Applicants must mark “DEFERRED ENTRY” clearly in the subject line of the email.

You can also check the website of the relevant HEI to see if they have a deferral policy available online that you can refer to.

The email must arrive in the Admissions Office of the institution at least two days before the ‘Reply Date’ shown on the Offer Notice.

The HEI will communicate their decision with a reply to you directly.

If the deferral is not granted you may then accept the offer for the current year providing you accept the offer by the ‘Reply Date’.

You must send all communications about deferrals to the appropriate Admissions Office and not to CAO.

I received no offer

The main reasons for this may be minimum points or entry requirements haven’t been met, or applicant information has been left out or entered incorrectly into the CAO system, such as an incorrect exam number.

If no offer was received, you should check that your application details were correct, then check the CAO website in order to see if there are any other options — like PLC places or direct entry to institutions.

I would also advise to take a year out and explore other options like studying a Tertiary degree or studying abroad such as the UK, Poland, Hungary.

Should I Accept My 2nd or 3rd Choice Went I Won’t Get a Higher Offer?

If you are to go on and study your 2 nd or 3 rd choice course, ask yourself, will you be happy with this course?

And do you know what this course entails and what it will lead to?

Students really need to do their research before accepting a course and I would always advise taking time to think about a course before accepting it, especially if it is not their first choice.

n The free IGC Helpline 1800 265 165 is open until 30th August with professional guidance counsellors who will be on hand to answer all of your questions regarding CAO results, appeals, career pathways, college courses and more.