Q: My daughter would like to do veterinary but the points are so absurdly high that it would be impossible. Should it not be possible for a person of more average ability to become a vet? Surely the points system is grossly unfair? - Co Kerry parent.

A: It is absurd that only students with well over 500 points can get a place to study veterinary, but the problem is that with a small number of veterinary places, some method has to be found to select the lucky 60, and at that level no matter what method you choose it will be arbitrary.

It is simply not possible to devise an aptitude test which will tell you whether one person will make a good vet and another will not. And if you interviewed all the applicants, you would find that hundreds of them are well suited, so how would you pick 60?

The points system is a bit like democracy, it's not perfect, it has its flaws, but it is the most equitable system we have at the moment. At least students know exactly what they need to achieve for a particular course they know why they have been turned down and it is all above board.

When you only have 60 places in a particular area, large numbers of people are going to be disappointed no matter what you do it may be a different set of people, but you still have the same number disappointed.

Imagine if you did have interviews and your daughter with, let's say, 400 points were to get a place and somebody else with 550 did not. Can you imagine how the parents of the other student would feel? Or the calls for investigation on how the places were allocated?

Or look at it this way if somebody on 350 points got in with an interview and your daughter with 400 points did not, would you not want to go back to allocating the places on points?

Points are a mechanism for regulating supply and demand and as long as the demand is high for courses such as veterinary, medicine, dentistry etc. there will be disappointed students.

And don't imagine that it, is any easier elsewhere. Veterinary is also the most difficult course to get into in Britain and three straight A Level As are often required.

I'm afraid there is no easy solution to the points race and the competition and pressure would be just as stiff no matter which method of selection you choose.

Q: Would you advise a student to take two foreign languages in the Leaving Cert? My daughter would like to take both French and German, but I am worried that this would limit her college choices - Co Mayo parent.

A: It depends on how certain she is about her career choices. She needs to do Irish, English and maths in any case and a science subject is important if she wants to keep medical, scientific and technological options open. That accounts for four subjects and six are counted for points, so she would be filling up her remaining two with languages - she'll probably, like most students, take seven subjects, but concentrate on six for points.

If she is really good at languages and knows that she wants to do a language based course after school, then French and German would be a good choice. There is certainly quite a demand for people with language skills in the workforce at the moment.

On the other hand, the demand is often for people with dual qualifications a language and business qualification, language/computing skills, for example. So it might be worth thinking about the business side of things as well.

It does strike me that four languages in one's package of Leaving Cert subjects is a bit lopsided and, unless the student is very definite about a language based career, I'd stop and think about that one.

Q: I'm thinking of doing accountancy but am not sure whether to do a business course first or go straight into accountancy. What do you think? - Dublin student.

A: The jobs situation is very buoyant in accountancy at the moment. The doldrums of a few years ago have well and truly lifted and there are plenty of jobs being filled. So, if you are sure that accountancy is your thing, there is no reason why you should not go straight into an accountancy course in an RTC or the DIT, or the degree course in DCU.

On the other hand, doing a general business course first - would give you a broader business education and would leave business related careers other than accountancy open to you as well. It may also broaden the range of opportunities open to you as an accountant later on.

If you are absolutely certain that you want to work as an accountant and want to get on with it as quickly as then go straight into an accountancy course. If you want to consider broader options, go for the business course. It has to be said also that a good business or commerce degree followed by accountancy training is a very good career path.

Q: We have to decide whether to send our son to, school at four or wait for another year. What is the norm, do you know? - South Dublin parents.

A: Traditionally, the majority of families sent their children to school at the age of four, but the starting age has been creeping up and more parents are opting to wait until five.

I imagine that the more widespread availability of pre school playgroups and nursery schools has influenced this trend.

I think many parents are influenced by the time of year their child is born - if your son is only four in June or July, then it might be desirable to wait until he's five, whereas a child born in December would be well over four and a half by school start in September. I would certainly take that into account.

The child's level of maturity and independence is also important. Some kids are more babyish at four than others. Some are ready and want to go to school, but for others it would be a big move. But overall I do detect more of a willingness to wait until five, at least with spring or summer babies.

I wonder, too, if the existence of Transition Year will influence parents in relation to school starting age. I encounter an increasing number of parents who worry that as Transition Year adds another year onto secondary schooling, their children will be 19 when sitting the Leaving Cert - mind you, 18 and 19 are increasingly becoming the norm for Leaving Cert, with considerably less students sitting it at 17 than in the past.

Third level colleges report this as a positive trend, finding that the older students are when they start their studies, the better they tend to perform.

Q: Is it really likely that CAO points will go down this year? Everybody in our school is assuming that they will - Limerick student.

A: Don't bank on it. The numbers sitting the Leaving Cert are down a few thousand, but it is a small difference. I'm not at all sure that it is enough to have an effect on the high points courses.

It is possible that there will be an effect on the lower points ones - the RTC courses around the 200-300 points mark. But if I were a student I'd still operate on the assumption that the points for medicine, law etc will be similar to last year. It would be a big risk to think otherwise if they do go down, it will be by a small enough margin, I'd say.

For medicine to remain at the same points level as last year all you need is for 350 students to get the same results as last year's successful candidates and out of around 60,000 candidates that is not alot.