Students who want to change their CAO choices have only three days to finalise their choices, writes Brian Mooney.
Students who have applied for a college place at certificate, diploma or degree level through the CAO need to be reminded that a Change of Mind Form must be returned, to arrive not later than 5.15 p.m. on July 1st at CAO, Tower House, Eglinton Street, Galway.
Those using the postal system should post no later than tomorrow. Online applications should be finalised by Wednesday to avoid last-minute technical problems on Thursday.
For many CAO applicants, the decisions of January seem like distant memories. There may be a temptation not to revisit this process given the level of exhaustion students are feeling after two gruelling weeks of exams.
This would be a major error as many things have changed since students made their initial applications. Colleges may have increased the number of places on a course, making it more accessible to a wider range of students.
An example of this is UCC's decision last week to double the number of places on its BA in early childhood care degree programme. Some courses have been dropped, and new ones introduced.
Students may have changed subject levels from higher to ordinary, making them ineligible for a course. An example would be students who applied for degree courses in engineering while studying higher-level maths, but who eventually took the ordinary level paper.
Tips to follow
(1) Before making any changes to their initial application, students should read carefully the list of withdrawn and new courses from those published in the handbook supplied by the CAO to all applicants.
(2) Given that school computer systems are still accessible to students, they should also make use of the Qualifax programme, the national database of all PLC, cert/diploma and degree courses offered by colleges in Ireland, to carry out any last-minute research on any changes they may be contemplating.
(3) Applicants should always place their courses in the order they actually want them, and not try and second-guess what result they might achieve in August.
(4) It is wise to cover all eventualities by listing a wide range of options at both cert/diploma and degree level.
(5) Never list a course unless you have read the full text of the course content in Qualifax or in the current year course prospectus published by the college.
(6) Do not be influenced in your course choice by factors such as where friends are applying. This will fade into insignificance once you get to know fellow students in the autumn.
(7) Discuss any changes you propose to make with a parent or other responsible adult to ensure that it is well thought out.
(8) Finally, follow carefully the CAO regulations laid out below to ensure that your change-of-mind process is carried out successfully.
(9) Having done that, if you wish to make a change in your initial application submit your final list of choices, to arrive at the CAO offices before 5.15 p.m. on July 1st.
Some basic CAO rules
If you wish to change the courses for which you have applied, or to change the order of preference of your courses, you may do so online at www.cao.ie. Using the online system reduces the risk of error.
Alternatively, you may make changes by completing the paper Change of Mind Form, sent to all applicants, and returning it to arrive not later than 5.15 p.m. on July 1st at CAO, Tower House, Eglinton Street, Galway.
Students can repeat this process as often as they wish, but the last one received will be taken as the student's choices.
If you do not wish to change any of your courses, you do not need to send the Change of Mind Form back to the CAO.
You may wish to change only the degree courses, or you may wish to change only the diploma/certificate courses, or you may wish to change both the degree courses and the diploma/certificate courses. To make any such changes, complete the appropriate categories. List all of your course choices for the particular category which you change.
If you do not wish to change the courses in one category, please leave it blank. Your original courses in that category will remain unchanged.
Except for restricted application courses, you may enter on the form any courses which did not appear on your original application. Mature applicants should check with the appropriate admissions office before introducing a new course.
As with your initial application, do not mix courses from the cert/diploma and degree lists.
No fee is required for the change of mind service.
If using the Change of Mind Form, you should obtain a certificate of postage, which is printed on the inside back cover of your CAO handbook.
You will receive a revised statement of course choices to confirm that your new course choices have been entered into your computer record. If it does not arrive by July 15th, you must contact the CAO immediately.
It is very important that your course choices should be absolutely correct. Therefore, if you are going to be away from home at the time when the revised statement is due, you must arrange for someone to check that it arrives, and, when it arrives, that the contents are correct and accurately reflect your wishes. Do not wait until August to notify CAO of errors or omissions as it will be too late to do anything about them.
If you wish to receive immediate confirmation that your Change of Mind Form has arrived in the CAO, please include a stamped postcard addressed to yourself. As soon as the envelope is opened, the postcard will be posted to you as evidence that the form arrived.
Brian Mooney is president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors.