THERE are various dates and deadlines which are vital for the CAO/CAS applicant over the remainder of the year and right up to college start-up. Missing one can have serious consequences.
February 1st: Closing date for acceptance of CAO/CAS applications at the normal fee of £18.
It is also the final closing date for applications for restricted application courses. Such courses involve an assessment other than points - portfolio, interview etc - and therefore do not accept any applications after February 1st. It is important to remember that the "pending" or late application facility does not apply to these courses.
Month of February: In the course of the month, provided the applicant has enclosed the stamped and addressed initial acknowledgement card with his/ her application, this will be returned, thus confirming that the CAO has your application and is processing it.
March 1st: By this date all applicants should have received their CAO serial numbers. If you have not received your number by this date, then you should write to the CAO informing them of this.
May 1st: This is the final closing date for applications. Late applications - except for restricted application courses - are accepted up to this date at a fee of £36.
End of May: Before the end of May all applicants will get an application record from the CAO/CAS office. This contains all the details of your application including your course choices. It is vital that you check every detail of this carefully. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that these details are correct and if you do not notify any inaccuracy, the CAO will not accept any responsibility for errors later on.
A change-of-mind form will also be sent with the application record.
June 15th: If your application record has not arrived by this date, contact the CAO office.
July 1st: This is the closing date for receipt of change-of-mind forms - and for course choices for those who have used the "pending" facility. Applicants may change their course choices or the order of their choices as often as they like up to this date. (However, restricted application courses cannot be included on change-of-mind forms unless they were already listed prior to February 1st.) From July 1st, no further changes in course choices can be made.
With the application record in May, applicants will get a change-of-mind form; if they return this, another one will be issued.
August 15th: The Leaving Cert results usually come out within a few days of this date.
End of August: The first round of CAO/CAS offers are made within about five or six days of the Leaving results coming out It is important that applicants be around at this stage. There is a limited amount of time in which to accept or reject an offer - just 10 days and a week for second and third round offers.
If the applicant's family is away on holidays at this time, for example, an offer could be lost through not accepting it by the closing date. So, make sure you are around.
