Some were handed a ticket to college and others weren't. But for everyone concerned the tortuous wait for Leaving Cert results is finally over.
The consuming panic, the sweaty palms, the blinding stress that previously lurked between the vast plains of fear and learning are now a memory.
The results published today show a marked increase in the proportion of students who got honours, so not surprisingly there were plenty of smiling faces.
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Ailbhe McDonagh hopes to do a performance course at the Royal Irish Academy of Music
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Ailbhe McDonagh
(left)
of Loreto College on the Green in Dublin was "delighted" with her results. She did "a lot better than expected". Ailbhe loves music which she plans to study next year in the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
The performance course she wants to take isn't points-based so her only dilemma is whether to specialise in piano or cello.
The Principal of Synge Street Secondary School in Dublin, Mr Peter Jordan, said he was very happy with this year's results. He said the "overall satisfaction for those who worked hard was particularly gratifying."
Mr Jordan said this year, especially students who were academically weak, "worked hard and struggled to put their strength and energies into it". This had now paid off he said. "They were delighted and so are we," he added.
Brian Doyle from Synge Street seemed confident of being offered a place on a computer programming course but his immediate plans are to go and "party with me mates".
Of course, there will also be a lot of disappointment today and in a world where education is often seen as a pre-requisite for a good job, the Leaving Cert may seem a very crude measure of ability.
So if that university or college place slipped over the horizon and others are gloating all around you take comfort from a speech US President George W. Bush made recently to Yale graduates: "To those of you who received honours, awards and distinctions, I say, well done. And to the C students, I say, you too can be president of the United States."