SOME sad stories emerge after Round Two offers come out as disappointed applicants face up to the fact that they have no real prospect of an offer. We had tears on our phone-line yesterday and reports of tears.
Yet the sad thing is that so much of this disappointment is avoidable if only students faced up to the realities of the system earlier in the year and made a good, wide range of choices covering plenty of different options.
There was the young man reported by his mother to be in despair because, despite well over 400 points in the Leaving, he had no college place. He wanted an arts degree but had applied only for arts options in Trinity. But he had dozens of points to spare for arts in UCD, in Maynooth and in St Pat's in Drumcondra. "I know," sighed the mother, "but he was just hooked on Trinity and he thought he was sure of making the points for some course there."
One's first reaction is how can anyone be so utterly dumb and yet at the same time be so bright as to get over 400 points in the Leaving Cert? Our only advice was to do a PLC course for a year and re-apply through the CAO next year, making sure to spread his choices over a wide range of arts degrees.
This young man is not even sure why he wants to do an arts degree - or what he would do with it - but his classmates were putting all their eggs in the Trinity basket, too, so there he went headlong into disaster without a second thought.
This business of "where the pals are going" is a huge factor in choice of college places, it seems to me. And if anything - judging by the phone calls to Points Race it is becoming a bigger factor.
You get people who will only consider UCD because their friends are going there, you get people who are flocking to Galway because they've heard that is where the craic is and their mates are going there, too.
We've found it in the case of RTCs, too. "Why wouldn't he take the degree place in Waterford rather than the diploma in Carlow RTC?" we asked a parent. "Well, you see, he has friends going to Carlow."
Choosing a college on the basis of where your friends or classmates are going seems to be more common to us. Of course, there is comfort in having friends with you, in not having to strike out alone into the unknown.
But this is what college is all about; it is about leaving the security and intimacy of school and going out into the big world. It is about getting to know new and different people and surviving in a place where you know no one - you can't take your friends to work with you when you find a job.
It doesn't matter much to which school you go - they all teach the same Leaving Cert programme - but it does matter a great deal which college course you choose, because it is designed to lead you in a very specific career direction and students simply cannot afford to base their decisions on extraneous issues such as the glamour, the craic or the friends.
We really do talk to people who take up totally unsuitable courses, in which they are only marginally interested, simply because the rest of the gang is going there. The idea that they are determining how they spend the rest of their lives does not seem to have occurred to them.
Even more frustrating are the parents who sigh "I know, I know, I kept trying to tell her and the poor parent who had been assured from the beginning that it was fine, of course she'd get into Trinity, there was no point in applying for anything else, is now the one left picking up the pieces while she bawls her eyes out.
. HIGH POINTS
WE also had our share yesterday of tearful applicants with 500 points and above but without an offer. They had hoped that physiotherapy might drop further, that they'd get radiography, that all on 500 points would get clinical speech at Trinity and now they are high and dry with nothing at the end of Round Two.
Of course it is tragic that someone with such a brilliant result should not get a place, but isn't it also tragic that someone so intelligent did not take the precaution of researching the scene more thoroughly, did not take an interest in a slightly - just slightly - broader range of careers in which case they could have guaranteed themselves a place in several equally good and equally suitable degree courses all with excellent prospects.
"I just know she's so suited and she'd make a brilliant physiotherapist," said the mother; and I'm sure she's right. But there are plenty of people who'd make great teachers and don't get into teacher-training, who'd make wonderful electricians but don't get an apprenticeship and lots of youngsters who'd do anything to get into the Garda - and there isn't even a course for which they can aim.
If there is one piece of advice which parents should take to heart, it is this: never encourage your child to concentrate on one career - or one career direction - always try to get them to look at the wider picture.
There is something there for everyone, it's just a matter of making sure that you are in the running for a wide enough range.
. FEES & GRANTS
THIS business of having to pay fees if you change to the first year of a different course after year one is really bugging people. But interesting information has emerged. Students following an ESF-funded certificate or diploma course in an RTC or the DIT can change direction - provided it is a substantially different direction - and do year one of another ESF-funded course and still not pay fees. However if they change to a non-ESF-funded course, they will have to pay fees.
The same applies to maintenance grants for students on ESF-funded courses, i.e. if you change course at the end of year one - regardless of whether you fail the exams or not - you can keep your maintenance grant for another first year in a different course area.
However, if you fail first year and repeat the same year, then your funding is withdrawn for the year, both for the fees and the maintenance grant.
So, that is an interesting precedent; one could well ask if students on ESF courses are allowed to have a change of direction free of charge - once only, mind you and only at the end of first year - why can students on university degrees and non-ESF diplomas not have the same treatment? How about it, Minister?
. PLC VACANCIES
IN the wake of Round Two, PLC colleges are reporting a brisk run on their remaining places. The following are some who still have some vacancies:
Cork College of Commerce (021-270 777): They're interviewing all this week and students may still apply. They also have a telemarketing/languages course which should offer good job prospects; it requires a foreign language in the Leaving Cert.
Monaghan Institute of Further Education and Training (047- 849000): Vacancies on the following courses: NCVA nursing studies; BTEC computers; BTEC leisure and tourism; NCVA sport and recreation; NCVA art, craft and design; CERT/NCVA hotel, catering and tourism.
Pearse College, Crumlin (01-453 6661/454 1544): Vacancies on all PLCs: architectural draughting and design (this is filling quickly); amenity horticulture; business studies and international trade (two-year diploma); holistic health studies; languages for travel and tourism; media production skills; retail management and business studies.
The repeat Leaving Certificate course is two-thirds full but there are still vacancies. Call into the college this week for an interview for either PLC or repeat Leaving Certificate courses. No appointment necessary.
Colaiste Stiofain Naofa, Cork (021-961 020): Still accepting applications for some places in music management and sound; computers/electronics; dance; drama; marine leisure management; horticulture; landscaping; tourism/ heritage management; greenkeeping; engineering/technology; plant maintenance/repair; carpentry; furniture design/construction; art/craft/design; community care/health studies; business/languages; applied biology/ food/nutrition; media techniques; leisure/recreation management; legal/business studies.
Community College, Moinin na gCiseach, Galway (091-55464): Vacancies on hotel and catering and business studies/secretarial. Limited places on childcare and business studies/information technology. Phone the college for details.