Overall, falls in the points requirements for courses in many of the biguniversity faculties - such as arts, commerce and science - are modest,reports Emmet Oliver, Education Correspondent

The sense of mild disappointment which lingered after the first round is not likely to lift when students review the second round offers from the CAO this morning.

While points for several nursing, engineering and computer-related courses have tumbled in the second round, the number of students getting good news this morning is modest.

According to the Central Applications Office, some 3,162 candidates are getting a second round offer, with students in the Cork area possibly having the most to cheer about (but more of that later).

The biggest winners are those waiting for nursing offers. The nursing schools usually act conservatively in the first round because they never know how many students are going to accept first round offers.

Consequently, points for nursing in the first round are normally sky high. But - just like last year - they have come down significantly in the second round of offers.

For example, UCD's nursing course (DN112) has fallen 80 points to 390.

For aspiring engineers there are also a few crumbs of comfort in the second round. At UCD in particular, points for several engineering courses have dropped slightly.

For example, electronic or electrical engineering (DN 073) is down 15 points to 360, while chemical engineering (DN 071) is down 10 points to 445.

As for computer-related courses, the only way appears to be down. After plummeting in the first round, these courses have dropped again in the second round. For example, UCC's computers science course (CK 401) is down 10 points, while UCD's computer science course (DN 030) is down 10 points to 365.

Other computer courses, such as NUI Galway's information technology option (GY 350), are now on the vacant places list, a development which nobody thought possible a few years ago.

Elsewhere there are a few pleasant surprises for some lucky students. A drop of five points for those seeking a place on UCC's medicine course (CK 701), a similar drop for UCD's architecture course (DN 001) and an unexpected dip in points for Trinity's psychology degree (TR 006).

IN terms of reading the charts inside this supplement there are a few things worth noting. If no points are shown in a column, this means no offers were made.

If points are shown, but they are the same as round one, it means a tiny number of offers were made.

A CAO spokesman explains what happens in these cases: "In some cases only a single offer might have been made, perhaps to take account of errors in round one which were not the applicant's responsibility."

The pattern of second offers is relatively similar most years. There are normally few new offers for degree courses and slightly more for diploma and certificate courses. However, the shrinking number of students has changed the picture slightly this year.

Many institutes of technology (ITs) now accept all qualified applicants (AQA) for their courses, so there is no reason for them to drop points in the second round.

AQA means all candidates with the minimum entry requirements (usually a few passes) are accepted. These colleges are being forced down this route because of the sharp fall in the number of school leavers.

At university level the number of new offers is relatively generous, but hardly a bonanza. More than 90 degree courses show a points drop in round two. This is out of about 530 degree courses, spread across the universities and some ITs.

However, the spread is not even. Colleges such as UCC, Cork IT and UCD, have made a sizeable number of offers in round two, whereas other colleges appear happy with the acceptances they received after round one.

UCC was the place to be for second round offers this year. It is somewhat surprising to find that points for 27 of its 43 degree courses have dropped in the second round.

This seems to indicate that some students may have applied for UCC but subsequently declined the offer when it came. In addition, it may also indicate that UCC did not make enough offers in the first place and is now making up for it.

The shift in points between rounds one and two is not that dramatic in UCC.

FOR example, commerce (CK 201) has fallen by five points to 445*. Doesn't seem like much? But even that small shift has probably opened up places for several students who were stuck just below the 450 needed in the first round.

Overall, falls in points for courses in the big university faculties such as arts, commerce and science are modest. A lot of students were hoping something might happen in relation to arts (DN 012) at UCD, but unfortunately the college seems to be happy with the response it received in the first round of offers and, as a result, points remain at 375.