Jess Casey: Lockdown influencing students' CAO choices

Medicine, midwifery and medical science prove popular choices

Ciarán Ó'Donnchú from Tralee and a student at the the Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí Tralee receives an offer for his first selected option on his CAO application form. 

Did the lockdown this year inspire more students to pursue careers in health, chase their creative passions, inspire new faith, or to fight the climate crisis? The first round of CAO data seems to indicate that the ongoing pandemic has influenced students' career choices, in more ways than one. 

Across the board, 2020 marked a record year that saw cutoff points, the minimum points needed to gain a college place this round, surge, though to varying degrees. More than 60% of honours degrees saw cutoff points increase, a little over 24% fell, and just 5% were static.