LISTING one's course choices correctly is the most important part of filling out the CAO form - and some applicants do get it wrong. There are a number of important points to keep in mind and if you follow those - and read the CAO/CAS handbook carefully - you should avoid making mistakes.
In filling out the application form it is vital to read through the instructions in the CAO/CAS hand-book carefully; they are on the green pages at the beginning of the handbook. It is also important to listen to the advice of your school guidance counsellor; most mistakes arise because people fill out the form without reading the instructions carefully. It is also advisable to make a photocopy of the application form and do a dummy run before filling out the final version.
THE LISTS: There are two lists on page two of the CAO/CAS application form, a degree list and a diploma/certificate list. You are entitled to enter 10 courses on each list. Take care that you enter only degree courses on the degree list and cert/diplomas on the other.
They are listed separately in the CAO/CAS handbook, the diploma/ certificate courses coming first on the yellow pages and the degree courses following on the grey pages.
COURSE CODE: Be very careful that you enter the correct code for your course choices; getting the wrong code is a common mistake. In the case of UCD, for example, architecture is DN001 and agriculture is DN010, so just getting one digit wrong can mean you are applying for a totally different course. Use a ruler to trace the course code across to the course description in the CAO handbook.
COURSE DETAILS: The common mistake here is to enter the course description instead of the course details. The course details are the short letters beside the code, e.g. BIS for business information systems at UCC or PHYSIOL for applied physiology at the RTC Carlow.
ORDER OF CHOICE: Having made your choices, you simply enter them in order of preference, one to 10. Don't start playing around and trying to work out what points you might get or what points a particular course may require; simply ask yourself on which course would you most like to be offered a place and put that down as number one. If you don't get that, which would you like next best, and so on down the list.
You do not list courses in order of points or in order of appearance in the handbook; they should be listed in the order of preference in which you would like to be made an offer. Do not do as some applicants do: decide they would like to do law but then think, "I will never get the points for law so I'll put arts as first preference." They then enter a few arts degrees and think, "Sure, I'll put law in as a fifth preference, just in case." This is a surefire way to mess up your application, because the CAO will make offers according to your preferences and will offer you arts, not law, even if you get 600 points.
LOW PREFERENCES: There is no penalty in the CAO system for giving a course a low preference. Thus if you list arts at Maynooth as your 10th preference and do not have the points for any of your nine higher choices, you will be offered an arts place on exactly the same basis as somebody else who has the same points as you, but who even put it as his/her number one.
MAKING OF OFFERS: To understand the importance of listing your preferences properly, it helps to know how the CAO/CAS makes offers. The CAO computer first checks if you have the points for your first preference; if you do not, it moves to your second and so on dawn. If you do qualify for your first preference, you get an offer and all your lower preferences are then wiped out. So our hypothetical applicant above would not get offered law, because it was his fifth preference and he had the points for his first, arts.
However, if you get offered, say, your third preference, then all your choices below third are wiped out, but you are still in the running for second and first choices should the points for them drop in subsequent rounds of offers. If you only get offered your 10th choice in the first round of offers, you will still be considered for your other nine if you become eligible on points.
MOVING UPWARDS: There is a simple rule of the CAO/CAS system which explains the above clearly: you can always move upwards in your list of choices, but never downwards. Thus if you are offered your eighth preference, you can still be in the running for your sixth, third or first preference if the points fall; similarly, if offered your fifth preference you are still in the running for all above fifth, but not for those below it. And if you are offered your first preference, you will get no further offer no matter what happens.
TWO LISTS: The two lists - degree and cert/diploma - operate independently of each other. Thus on each round of offers an applicant can be made an offer from each list - i.e. two offers - but can only accept one. So, from the point of view of offers. the two lists are completely separate, and whether you accept or reject an offer from any one list has no bearing on your chances of getting an offer from either list on second or later rounds.
Thus, if a student turns down a place offered on the cert/diploma list on round one of the offers, this does not affect her chances of being offered a place from the degree list on round two. It makes sense to fill out some choices on both lists. If you can have 15 or 20 choices instead of 10, why not do so? And if you don't want to take them up in September, just ignore them.
POINTS: Don't allow yourself to be influenced too much by points. Obviously, there are people who could never in a million years get 400 points, so there is little purpose in wasting half their choices on courses with this level of points; to a reasonable extent, you do need to tailor your choices to your potential.
But don't let it totally dominate your thinking. Within your ability range try to choose courses suited to your needs and career aspirations, rather than by points.
It is true, of course, that if you list a course with low points as your first preference, it can be a bit of a waste listing courses with much higher points below it - if you make the points, you will get offered your first preference in any case and your lower preferences will be wiped out. On the other hand, you never know. in advance how the points will move from any one year to the next; last year UCD architecture unexpectedly jumped by 35 points, language/computing at UL went up by 40 points and most science degrees went up.
Remember the golden rule: list your courses in order of preference. Last year's points will provide a rough - and only a rough guide - to what might be expected this year; see the full list of 1995 points on pages 6 and 11 of this supplement.
INSURANCE POLICY: If you are listing all high-points courses. it can be useful to put in a "banker" or two at the end of your list, as a fall-back position in case you mess up your Leaving Cert - or the points go sky high - and you don't make your higher choices. One or two arts degrees. for example, could go at the end of a list mainly of law degrees. Cert/diploma courses can also be the fall-back for degree applicants.
SUBJECT REQUIRMENTS may very close attention to subject requirements. Each college has certain basic minimum subject or matriculation requirements without which you cannot he registered at all in that college - Irish for the NUI colleges, for example, maths or Latin for Trinity and English and maths for most colleges.
In addition, many courses require you to achieve particular grades in certain subjects in order to be considered for a place at all. If you do not meet these subject or grade requirements, then you are not in the running for a place at all, regardless of points. Check the chart on pages 8 and 9 of this supplement.
COLLEGE BROCHURES: The CAO/CAS handbook merely lists the titles of courses and their codes; it gives no detailed information about the content, nature or structure of courses or about specific subject requirements. All applicants should have read the individual college and course brochures as well as the CAO handbook. Consult your school guidance counsellor - but it is also desirable to get copies of the literature, so you can study it at home and your parents can read it.
RESTRICTED APPLICATION:
Some courses in the CAO/CAS handbook are marked "restricted application". These involve a mode of selection other than points - interview, portfolio, etc. These assessments take place around Easter, so late applications cannot be accepted after February 1st.
MISTAKES: If you make a mistake in filling out the form, the CAO sends it back to you and charges you £5 penalty to re-submit.
APPLICATION RECORD: There is space on the back page of the CAO/CAS handbook to make a record of your choices. But it is advisable to make a photocopy of your full application.
It's also a good idea to get the post office to stamp one of the certificates of posting on the inside back cover of the handbook proof that you sent it on time.
