College Choice/Brian Mooney:The celebrations are over, the points are counted and you now await the publication of this year's points results by the CAO next Monday at 6am.
The phone lines at the Irish Timesadvice line, staffed by guidance counsellors, have been busy over the past two days as anxious students and parents sought answers to a wide range of questions. The following are some of the most popular.
If I have the required points but have fallen short of a minimum entry requirement, will colleges be willing to vary this requirement?
In the UK where colleges set individual entry requirements for each applicant based on the course being applied for, there may be some flexibility around falling short by a single grade.
In Ireland, where the colleges publish general entry requirements for each college and specific requirements for each course offered by the college, there is no flexibility in terms of these published criteria.
If you do not meet an entry requirement but have more than sufficient points for the course in question, you have no option but to repeat a single subject next year and then re-apply to the CAO next year, using your points score from this year's sitting of the Leaving. You cannot use the improved grade you may secure in your repeated single subject to increase your points score.
Based on my Leaving Certificate results it seems that I will now be offered my third choice on my CAO application list.
I don't really want to study this course. Can I now change my order of CAO choices?
No. Once the July 1st CAO deadline has passed, you cannot vary it. But there may be a way out. Where colleges have not secured sufficient applications for a course, they register the availability of those places on the "vacant places" list on the CAO website, at www.cao.ie
Over the past few weeks, more than 800 applicants selected courses from this list and inserted them into their order of preferences. As the CAO is today allocating places based on all 65,000 applicants, this facility in now closed. However, it will be active again from noon next Tuesday, following the first round offers on Monday. If you do not want the course you are offered on Monday or if you receive no offer, you have the choice of selecting a vacant place from the full list of available courses on the CAO website and inserting it into your existing list of choices.
If you have by then received an offer from the CAO, you must obviously place your new course choice above the course you have been offered. If you simply want to ensure that you will be offered the new course in case you do not receive any of your current choices, simply place the new course at the bottom of your existing list of choices. A word of caution: if you remove an existing course from your list , you cannot recover it, even if you change your mind about removing it within five minutes, so be careful about any changes you make.
I failed maths. What can I do now? Can I apply for any course through the CAO?
Colleges currently offer 1,128 courses through the CAO.
More than 900 courses have maths as a course entry requirement, and 195 courses do not.
The entry requirements for all courses, including the full list of all courses requiring maths, are available on the Qualifax website at www.qualifax.ie
You can now cross-check that list against the list of vacant places offered on the CAO website to see whether there may be an available course that you would like to do.
If this option does not bear fruit, you always have the option of repeating maths in the Leaving next year and using this year's points to apply for a course.
I have spent a fortune on paying fees for my son's education, alongside ongoing grinds, and I am not happy with the grades he got. Can I appeal these grades?
There is no guarantee that the payment of private school fees, or ongoing grinds, will enhance the performance of any student over and above their own ability level.
The student's own work ethic and the degree to which he or she utilises the opportunities provided for them is far more significant than the amount of money spent on their education.
It has always been my belief that students who maintain a constant work ethic over the six years of their second-level education will ultimately perform to the maximum of their potential. This is not to suggest that in certain circumstances, children may not require specific one-to-one support, to overcome weaknesses in specific subjects. But the belief, however well-intentioned, that the payment of your hard-earned money, will automatically lead to enhanced educational attainment is an expensive fallacy.
How can I appeal my grades?
A form accompanies each student's result which enables you to view your scripts on either August 31st or September 1st at your school. If, following this review, you wish to have any papers rechecked, you may do so at a cost of €37 per paper. This is refunded in cases where an upgrade is awarded.
Brian Mooney will be writing extensively in Monday's Options supplement on the CAO first round. His daily column returns on Tuesday.