FRIDAY is the last posting Jay for CAO forms to reach the Central Applications Office in Galway by the February 1st deadline but there is no need to panic if you don't think you will get it off in time. If you are applying for a restricted-application course you must have your form in by Saturday next but it is possible to put in a late entry for all other courses - up until May 1st.
You will have to pay a late entry fee of £36, double the standard fee, but it may be worthwhile if you feel you simply won't be able to get the form completed by Friday.
It is worth remembering that you can change your mind about your course choices up until 5.15 p.m. on July 1st. You cannot introduce any new restricted entry courses on your form but you can decide to start all over again when it comes to college and course choice. This change-of-mind facility means that you can take some time, after the Leaving Cert, and refine your choices even further.
The applications system for third-level colleges has become more streamlined every year but a number of problems are still causing a considerable amount of worry to guidance counsellors parents and students.
Guidance counsellors identify particular problems areas as the status of the link modules in the Leaving Cert Vocational Programme and the new entry requirements for nursing diplomas/degrees (which are outside the CAO). Mature students have problems coping with multiple deadlines and different application procedures for the various colleges. Meanwhile, the perennial complaint about art and design application procedures has again been aired by parents.
Three Leaving Certs
There are now three versions of the Leaving Cert on offer - the Leaving Cert Applied Programme, the Leaving Cert Vocational Programme and the traditional Leaving Cert.
The LCAP is not designed for direct entry to third level So LCAP candidates will not compete for third-level places on the basis of points. The LCAP may be accepted by Post Leaving Certificate colleges as suitable for entry to their courses and it is possible to progress, if desired, via this route.
Students sitting the LCVP take three link modules - enterprise education, preparation for work and work experience - as well as traditional Leaving Cert subjects. Unfortunately, the status of the link modules is still under discussion in the universities and the Dublin Institute of Technology.
What has been sorted out in the past two weeks is its relationship to the regional technical colleges. The three link modules are considered as one subject for the purposes of points and are given a composite score. Under the new points allocation, a pass is worth 30 points; a merit 50 points and 70 points are allocated for a distinction. These points may be used as an alternative to a student's sixth subject.
There is still time for the DIT and the universities to come to a decision about the links modules before college places are allocated in late summer.
There has been some confusion about filling out the CAO form - the decision by the RTCs was made too late for the CAO to incorporate precise instructions into its handbook. The CAO has asked LCVP applicants to tick box four on page three of the CAO application form and to give details on page four. There is no need to make a photocopy of these two pages for each college (as would be normal for applicants filling out pages three and four).
The CAO will be supplied with the results of the link modules in the same way as it is supplied with the results of the traditional Leaving Cert results. This means that the CAO will automatically be supplied with your results.
So, if you are an LCVP applicant and you have only filled out the first two pages of the CAO form, don't worry. The CAO will still get all the information it needs to process your application.
Back to nursing
There are now 12 college-associated diploma/degree courses in general nursing on offer. Guidance counsellors are concerned that the new entry requirements differ from those of An Bord Altranais in that a language, other than Irish and English, is now required. In effect, the requirements are those of the NUI - the diploma programme was first piloted in UCG, an NUI college, and their entry requirements have been extended to all colleges offering the new diploma/degree programme. Several guidance counsellors and parents contacted Countdown to College to complain that the additional language requirement is an unnecessary burden on those students who are not linguistically inclined. It also leaves colleges such as UL, DCU, Waterford and Letterkenny RTC in the somewhat ambivalent positions of being forced to apply NUI matriculation requirements to one group of applicants.
One guidance counsellor was also concerned about the requirement for a higher-level C3 within a specified group of subjects. The required subjects are Irish, English, maths, one other language, a laboratory science subject and one other subject (not home economics general). Students must sit all of these subjects at Leaving Cert. They must obtain two higher-level C3 - one of these must be in the required subject grouping. They must also have four ordinary-level grade D3s.
The Department of Health has appointed Price Waterhouse management consultants to review the operations of the Nursing Applications Centre. The question of the precise Leaving Cert subjects, in terms of subjects and grades, will be addressed by this review, which is expected to be completed soon.
If you wish to apply for a college-associated nursing course you should watch out for the advertisement in the national press which will alert you to the fact that the Nursing Applications Centre is accepting applications. Applications should be made through the Nursing Applications Centre, PO Box 118, Galway, after the ad appears (usually in April).
Art and design
Parents of students applying for art and design courses have been continuing their complaints about the cumbersome applications procedures which require students to traipse around the country toting portfolios. Could the colleges not organise some central/regional location(s), which would allow a small number of assessors to make a single journey, rather than asking a huge body of students to crisscross the country, trailing portfolios in their wake? Cork and Limerick RTCs already co-operate in this matter.
Mature students
Mature students considering third level would do well to buy themselves a diary as application dates for the different colleges vary widely. The application procedure itself falls into three categories - you may have to apply through the CAO; you may have to apply directly to the college or you may be asked to do both. Closing dates range across February, March, April and May so you need to be continuously on the alert.
A number of mature students, already stressed about financial arrangements and other worries, have asked why the colleges can't pout a single procedure with a single closing date in place?
NCVA applicants
A pilot project linking NCVA level 2 qualifications (obtained by students on Post Leaving Cert courses) and cert and diploma courses in the regional technical colleges is now entering its third year. The DIT entered the pilot last year. This year, there are about 1,000 third-level places reserved for NCVA level 2 candidates - they do not compete on the basis of Leaving Cert points.
Essentially, students who sit certain NCVA level 2 qualifications are eligible to apply for reserved places on corresponding cert and diploma courses. A certain amount of confusion has surrounded this scheme. Only specified NCVA level 2 courses are acceptable for particular courses.
If you are thinking of using a Post Leaving Cert course as a way in to third level (the main aim of PLCs is to prepare students directly for employment), you must first check with the National Council for Vocational Awards as to which courses will best suit your purpose.
Round two offers
There are certain courses, such as speech therapy in TCD and physical education in UL, where students will not be made an offer in round one of the CAO schedule. Normally, offers are made in round one, soon after the Leaving Cert results become available, and round two and subsequent rounds are merely a tidying up operation with vacant places being re-offered.
The reason for the wait until round two is that the colleges call students for additional tests after the Leaving Cert results have come out. This means that the colleges do not have to call all applicants to these tests (as happens with restricted-application courses which assess prior to the Leaving Cert). They can choose a certain number on the basis of Leaving Cert results.
A number of callers have rung to find out exactly how this waiting process affects students' other acceptances. If, for example, you have listed speech therapy as your first choice and you are made another offer in round one, what should you do? You can go ahead and accept this offer in the normal way. If you are then offered speech therapy in round two and you accept it, that's fine. The first round offer is automatically cancelled. But, if you have changed your mind and you prefer to hold your other offer, you may do so.