CAO offers: Almost half of students miss out on first choice as course points rise

Wed, 27 Aug, 2025 - 14:04

Jess Casey Education Correspondent

Points are up in almost half of all degree courses as almost 50% of students have missed out on their first choice of degree course following the first round of CAO offers.

Data released by the CAO on Wednesday shows that entry to 25 courses has been determined by random selection.

Some students will miss out on their top choice of college course this year, despite receiving the maximum grades available.

Entry to two college courses with cut-off points of 625 has been determined by random selection, which sees a lottery used to allocate places.

These courses are Management Science and Information Systems Studies and Dental Science at Trinity College Dublin (TCD).

Almost half (49%) of students this year have missed out on their top choice of course from the CAO.

The CAO issued 27,897 Level 8 offers for an applicant’s first preference course, or 51% of all offers.

In total, 80% of the Level 8 offers issued today through the CAO are for one of students’ top three preferences.

In 2024, students got their top choice in just over half (56%) of offers for degree courses, while 83% of offers were within a candidate’s first three preferences.

The points requirements have risen at 502 degree courses (47.8%) and fallen for 403 courses (38.4%) this year after exam authorities took the first steps towards addressing pandemic-era Leaving Cert grade inflation.

Points remained unchanged at 11.4% of Level 8 courses, and there are 25 new courses for 2025.

Entry to several high-point courses has been determined by random selection again this year.

These include both dentistry (613) and occupational therapy (566) at University College Cork, as well as other pharmacy, physiotherapy and biomedical courses around the country.

The CAO has also issued 28,554 Level 7/6 offers for the student’s first choice, or 90% of offers.

The majority of offers of Level 7/6 courses issued today are for one of applicant’s top three preferences.

In total, more than 59,901 CAO applicants have received an offer of a college place following Round One of the CAO.

Students have until 3pm on Tuesday, September 2, to accept an offer.

At Trinity College Dublin (TCD), cut-off points rose by an average of 9.6 points for single-honours courses.

The university said the downward adjustment in Leaving Cert grade inflation was offset by a “significant increase” in demand.

Seven honours courses this year require more than 600 points, a slight decrease from 2024.

Six TCD courses required the use of random selection to allocate places, an unchanged number from last year.

Two of these are at 625 points: Management Science and Information Systems Studies and Dental Science.

The courses determined by random selection at TCD include Integrated Engineering, Physiotherapy, Biological and Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy.

In Joint Honours courses, where two subjects are combined, two course combinations require 625 points this year: Economics and Geography, and Mathematics and Music.

It remains to be seen if Trinity is seeing an impact on points from re-applications through the CAO from students who sat their Leaving Certificate in previous years, Trinity’s Vice-Provost and Chief Academic Officer Orla Sheils said.

“It’s great that we are reducing the uplift in Leaving Cert grades, but it is regrettable that the effects of this gradual unwinding will continue for a number of years to come.”

At University of Galway, random selection has also been used to determine entry to medicine and pharmacy, a new course at the university for 2025.

This course will expand to 75 places in September 2026, which the university said is in response to the need for qualified pharmacists nationally and the demand for the career.