All prospective applicants should read the handbook thoroughly before making their application, writes Brian Mooney.
Now that the February 1st, 2003 deadline for submitting applications to the CAO is approaching, many students are turning their minds to this task.
An application pack can be acquired from the Central Applications Office, Tower House, Eglinton Street, Galway. Phone 091-509800. Most applicants who are students in second-level schools will already have received their pack from their guidance counsellor.
It may seem to be a statement of the obvious, but all prospective applicants should read the handbook thoroughly before making their application. Many errors made every year, which cause pain and anguish to both applicants and their parents, would be avoided if all involved read the handbook carefully.
The handbook - apart from containing general details about the CAO system - gives information on such issues as completing and submitting an application, the CAO's initial response to each application, change of mind options in respect of course choices, and the procedures which occur when places are offered.
The fee payable for making an application depends on the method by which an application is made. Applicants filling in the form accompanying the pack will make a payment of €35 at a bank, the receipt for which will be attached to the application. Applicants paying online may choose between paying €25 at a bank or €27 online with the use of a credit or debit card.
The paper application form is a four-page document; although students sitting the Leaving Certificate will - in almost all cases - only have to complete the first two pages of the form. Page one records the personal details of the applicant - name, address, sex, country of birth, nationality, and PPS number, the existence of a disability or special learning difficulty, and date of birth. I would like to highlight two points regarding this information.
Firstly, the indication that a student has a disability or special learning difficulty in no way militates against their chance of being offered a place in a particular college. The opposite is the case. All colleges have procedures in place to ensure that such students, who have diagnosed disabilities or special learning difficulties, are facilitated in every way possible to pursue their academic interests.
Secondly, it may seem surprising to note that thousands of newborn babies apply to study at third-level each year. All of these infants eventually turn out to be 17 and 18-year old students who cannot distinguish between their date of birth and today's date. All such errors and omissions will result in the application being returned to the applicant, and a further fee of €10 being levied.
Page two of the application records the fact that the candidate is sitting the Leaving Certificate in 2003 or has sat it since 1985. It also records whether a candidate is presenting NCVA Level 2 awards being taken in 2003. It ascertains whether a candidate falls into any of the special categories listed on page three. It is not sufficient to ignore this question if it does not apply. One must write "no" in the box provided.
We now come to the heart and soul of the form, the candidate's choice of courses. In 2003 candidates have the option of entering courses on two lists in order of their preference. In recent years candidates had five lists to choose from, the degree and diploma/certificate lists plus three nursing lists. The nursing lists have been abolished and candidates wishing to apply for nursing courses, which are only available at degree level, must enter such choices on their degree list. Each candidate has up to 10 choices on both lists, but is not obliged to enter any more courses than they wish to apply for at this time. Candidates can edit these lists using their change of mind option, up to the final cut off date of July 1st, 2003.
A word of caution is required at this point. Certain courses listed in the handbook have the word "restricted" attached. In these cases, which normally involve interviews or portfolio presentations, early assessment procedures - usually around March or April - apply. Only those candidates who list such courses in their application record by the initial application date of February 1st, 2003 will be considered.
Most people are unclear as to how these lists of choices operate. They are both simple and transparent. Colleges offer a specific number of places on each course in August each year. Leaving Certificate students who have applied for these courses are offered their highest choice on each list that their points entitle them to. If there are 100 places on offer, the hundred students with the correct entry requirements who have the highest points will be offered these places in round one of the offers in August.
When the CAO computer system receives the Leaving Certificate results in August, each candidate's choices are examined, starting with their first choice on each list, and working downwards. When their points fall within the number of places offered on a particular course, the computer offers them that place and wipes their application record below that choice. The CAO may still offer them a place on a course higher up the list if one becomes available due to non-acceptance of those places by other students.
It is, therefore, imperative that candidates list their choices in the order that they actually desire them. There is no point in trying to second-guess the points' requirement for any particular course next August. Nobody knows what they will be, because the number of candidates who apply and the quality of their Leaving Certificate results determines them. The colleges or the CAO does not set them.
If a candidate is, as yet, unclear as to what their order of preference should be, my advise is to make your best choice possible at this time, ensuring to include any restricted application courses of interest to them, and submit the application to the CAO. Remember that the point's score in the Leaving determines the courses offered in August. Students studying for this exam should be putting all of their energies into this process and not spending an inordinate amount of time on their course choices.
Finally, let me return to the method of application. Every year a greater number of candidates make their applications online. It is both cheaper and it eliminates the possibility of making some basic errors, a wrong course code, an application listing today's date as date of birth, and so on. It is simplicity itself to submit an online application and I would advise all candidates to consider this method of application. Simply log on to www.cao.ie and follow the instructions.
Brian Mooney is president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors February 1st: Closing date for CAO applications.
March 1st: All applicants should have received a record of their course choices, plus their CAO number.
By return of post after March 1st: Applicants, who have made an error in their application, concerning a restricted application course, or mature students who have made any error in their application, can rectify this by notifying the CAO immediately.
May 1st: Closing date for late applications; and date from which applicants may exercise their change of mind facility. This does not apply to restricted courses.
July 1st: All applications become final on that date.
July 22nd: The late application date for those students, who are currently studying at a Higher Education Institute and wish to change to another course of studies.
Early August: Offers of places to those candidates not awaiting Leaving Certificate results. This includes mature applicants plus those who have applied for a place, which they have deferred from last year.
August 13th: Leaving Certificate results are published.
August 19th: Applicants receive their first round offers.
August 27th: Final acceptance date for round one offers.
September 1st: Applicants receive their second round offers.
September 8th: Final acceptance date for round two offers.
October 15th: End of CAO season.
5.15 pm is the cut off time for all communication on the dates listed above. No exceptions are considered.
