On Monday at 6am about 80 per cent of those seeking a college place based on their Leaving Cert results will getting an online offer through the CAO in Galway. Students can access their offer from anywhere on the planet provided they have the password which they selected when they initially applied to the CAO online.

The majority of students will receive two offers; one from their list of level 8 honours degree programmes, and another one from their level 6/7 higher cert/ordinary degree list.

For those of you who get their first choice course on their level 8 list, the choice is simple – just click on the accept button on the screen and print your acceptance notice.

If the level 8 offer is from one of your lower preferences and your level 6/7 offer is possibly your first choice, you should think long and hard about which one to accept.

Most students and parents seem inclined to automatically accept the level 8 course as it is of higher academic status. This could be a major mistake. The purpose of taking any course is that it facilitates your career journey through life, and any course offer should be looked at in that context.

The vast majority of level 6/7 courses have progression opportunities on to level 8 programmes either within the same college or in other colleges. This process has been enhanced and greatly facilitated by the harmonisation of standards across all levels of education. Forget about not wanting to have to tell your friends you are taking a level 6/7 programme. Look where you want to end up at the completion of your undergraduate studies.

Course content

Before accepting any course you may be offered, explore in detail every aspect of the course content, not just in the first year of the programme but right through to graduation.

It is amazing how many students accept courses every year without reflecting on what they will be expected to study over the next three to four years. the course content. Details of every course are available on qualifax.ie and on the college's own website.

For the 20 per cent of students who may not receive an offer on Monday there are at least five options.

* If you have secured sufficient points for the course or courses you applied for but have failed to meet one entry requirement, you may sit the Leaving Cert in 2016 in that single subject, while reapplying to the CAO next year.

* If you have fallen short of the academic standards for all your course choices you may be more suited for a post-Leaving Cert (PLC) option which will help you to consolidate your abilities in your field of interest and quite possibly transfer into the very college and course you have failed to secure a place in this year.

* You could decide to repeat the entire Leaving Cert in the coming year. This option is taken by about 1,600 students each year and there are numerous schools and colleges who specialise in repeats.

* If you are prepared to consider studying abroad, you could look at eunicas.ie for courses in EU countries which still have places on offer in programmes taught through English. Fees and other costs are often lower that in Ireland, and qualifications are all at EU accredited levels.

* Look at the list of vacant places which the CAO will post online next Tuesday at noon to see if there is a course which still has unfilled capacity which suits your long-term career needs.

Students who have qualified as suitable applicants under DARE and HEAR schemes having met the criteria of having a designated disability or being economically disadvantaged, are still uncertain if they will receive an offer next Monday.

Even though there is a commitment from colleges operating under these schemes to reserve 5 per cent of places in all their courses for such candidates, and there is a general understanding that qualified applicants can secure a course even if they fall up to 10 per cent short of the published points, there is no certainty about receiving an offer. It is a matter for every course director to decide how to treat every student who is applying under HEAR and DARE. Indeed. standards can vary within individual colleges, quite apart from among different colleges.

Free fees

Following the announcement from Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan that she will be bringing in a scheme in the coming week to facilitate Leaving Cert students who have spent five years in Ireland’s second-level school system, and may still not have a status which qualifies them for free fees, any students who receives an offer from the CAO on Monday who is in that situation should accept their place immediately and await the details of the new scheme.

Next Week:

The “College Choice” series will resume next Tuesday.