College Choice/Brian Mooney: The debate continues over the end of the points race since it became a central part of educational life through the establishment of the CAO in 1977.
In this debate, which has dominated our airwaves over the past three days, two facts are irrefutable.
Firstly, 83 per cent of places accepted at higher-degree level this week are in arts/social science, science, teaching, business, law and nursing, where points have decreased substantially in many cases.
Twelve per cent of acceptances are in engineering, where this year's points are up and down, depending on the college; many places are still unfilled and are available through the vacant places system. Students in architecture, medicine, veterinary, dentistry, pharmacy and other health care courses, which are still demanding very high points, make up fewer than 5 per cent of acceptances.
Secondly, for the 95 per cent of students in areas where the points requirements have fallen substantially during the last two years, the entry requirements are now at a level where students taking up places will be able, based on their Leaving Certificate, to complete the programme successfully.
Due to the drop in population in the 1980s and the expansion of the number and range of places available, we have now reached the point where those students who work hard and achieve their potential in their Leaving Cert can be secure in the knowledge that there are now enough places, in more than 95 per cent of cases, to enable them to proceed to higher education.
The shortage of third-level places which has persisted for 30 years and which forced colleges to ration places to those with the highest points, thereby denying places to tens of thousands of more-than-capable students, is now at an end.
Through normal growth and expansion of our further and higher education system, we should be more than capable of absorbing any gradual increase in numbers of students which may come about, due to rising enrolments in the years ahead.
The validity of the argument, that the points race as we have known it is truly over, has been shown during the last two days in the many calls to The Irish Times helpline from callers who have more than the required points for their chosen course, but who have not been offered a place.
During the era of the points race, points requirements were at a level where almost everyone who had the points automatically met the matriculation requirements of the college and the course.
If you have not been offered your place and you have more than the points required, log on to the course page in www.qualifax.ie and you will probably find that you have not met a subject requirement that is part of the entry requirement for that college or course. The good news is that CAO rules allow students to repeat a single subject entry requirement and present it alongside a previously acquired points score for entry purposes.
A second major theme concerning callers to the helpline involve students who again meet the points requirement but who have not met a minimum maths entry requirement. They again can repeat the subject in 2007 and reapply using this year's points score.
A very upset student rang the helpline to complain that she had been offered a place in the arts degree of her choice, but should not have been as she had failed maths in her Leaving. She said she had been inconsolable since receiving her results. When the guidance counsellor explained to her that a pass in maths was not an entry requirement for an arts degree at university, her father came on the line to state that he thought it was a disgrace that universities would admit students who had failed maths, given its importance in our daily lives.
A major concern to some callers has been whether accepting the place offered to them would preclude them from being offered a higher preference course in a later round of CAO offers. CAO rules state that the acceptance of a lower-preference course has no effect on whether you are offered a higher preference course on your list if it becomes available. If you are offered a higher preference course, you can choose to accept the offer or stay with the course you had previously accepted.
Many disappointed students who read yesterday's front-page story in The Irish Times regarding the number of vacant places rang to ask how to apply for one. Simply log on to the CAO website at www.cao.ie and follow the instructions. The places are allocated on a first-come basis to those who have the entry requirements so time is of the essence.
Finally, we had a number of callers who identified themselves as having registered a change of mind with the CAO on June 22nd, who had received a printed confirmation on line and had not had their choices registered. The CAO has asked all such candidates to send in immediately a copy of the printed confirmation and that their revised change of mind will be dealt with in the second-round offers. Remember to accept your place by 5.15pm. next Tuesday, August 29th. Second-round offers will be available on Friday week, September 1st, on the CAO website at 6am.
Tomorrow: Can I afford to go to college?
Brian Mooney's column will appear daily in the run-up to the CAO second-round offers.