The much-awaited general and psychiatric nursing offers have been posted.
Three categories of letter have been sent out by the Nursing Applications Centre (NAC). One category contains offer notices, and another informs applicants that they did not do well enough to be made an offer but they have been placed on a reserve panel. The third category informs students they are ineligible for an offer as they did not have the minimum Leaving Cert requirements.
A spokeswoman for the NAC says that, based on previous years' experience, there is a reasonable chance that many of the applicants on the reserve panel will be made offers in the second round.
If you received an offer, you have a very short time to make up your mind as Friday is the closing date for the acceptance of offers.
You have four choices: you can accept an offer unconditionally or you can return a conditional acceptance whereby you indicate you will take the place but you would take a higher preference if you are offered it in the second round.
You can also make a conditional rejection of an offer. This means you don't want this particular hospital or college but you still want to considered for the second round.
Finally, you can return an unconditional rejection.
Successful applicants who wish to take up their places should send a £50 cheque or postal order to the NAC when accepting their place. This payment will be refunded three weeks after you have commenced the courses. If you do not take up your place or leave the programme within the first three weeks the £50 is forfeited.
The reserve panel is for places on the 1998 programme only. It does not form the basis for a panel in future years.
The NAC will consider applications for deferral of an offer only in exceptional circumstances.
The centre is hoping to process all of this information quickly and to post out the second round of offers in the middle of next week.
A number of queries have been received about how the NAC allocates places in the various programmes. One applicant asked whether there was a policy of sending Dublin students outside the city and vice-versa.
The answer to this latter query is an unequivocal "no". Places are allocated in order of merit. All 4,000 applicants were called to an assessment test early in the summer. Then, on the basis of these tests, 1,600 applicants were called to interview. Students were ranked on the basis of their interview results. They also had to fulfil certain minimum Leaving Cert requirements.
There is no weighting for performance in the Leaving Cert other than an additional 10 per cent for students who fulfilled these requirements in one sitting of the Leaving Cert.
When you applied, you ranked the various hospitals and the corresponding colleges in order of preference. As with the CAO, offers are then made with the top candidates receiving their first choice of course.
This year, there are 734 first-year places on general nursing programmes and 201 psychiatric nursing places.
If you have not received a letter from the NAC today, telephone (01) 661 5611.
A-level equivalences
There have been complaints from students who think that too many places go to students with A-levels. The converse complaint has also been aired, with one A-level student saying he didn't get a place in TCD and it was easier for Leaving Cert students to get places.
So, what's actually happening? How are A-level applicants rated?
Unlike Leaving Certificate results there is no standard equation of grades with points. Different colleges apply different rules.
TCD, DIT, Church of Ireland College of Education, Mater Dei, and Colaiste Mhuire award 190 points for an A; 160 for a B; 130 points for a C and 100 points for a D. DCU, Portobello, and St Patrick's, Drumcondra, award 175 for an A; 160 for a B; 130 for a C and 100 points for a D. The Royal College of Surgeons gives 185 for an A; 155 for a B and 120 for a C.
NUIG, CIT and UCC deal with applications on an individual basis. NUI Maynooth also deals with each application on an individual basis (minimum: three grade Cs). UCD does not use a points system. Instead, each faculty specifies its own requirements.
The CAO received applications from 2,233 GCSE candidates this year and has made 1,280 offers to these candidates to date. The vast majority of these candidates were interested only in three colleges - TCD, UCD and RCSI - and in professional courses such as pharmacy, medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine.
Both TCD and RCSI rank candidates in order of the points they achieved - whether these points were gained in the Leaving Cert or A-levels. There is no quota of reserved places.
In UCD, points are not allocated to A-level grades. Instead, minimum grades are specified for the various courses. These were reviewed during the past year. So, for instance, for medicine (545 Leaving Cert points, - random selection applies) and veterinary medicine (550 Leaving Cert points), A-level students would need three A grades although not all applicants for veterinary medicine with these grades were offered a place this year. The veterinary medicine course is the only such course on this island so each year 10 or 12 students are accepted from Northern Ireland. Radiography (505 points) and physiotherapy (535 points) required two As and a B. A frequently heard refrain is that it is easier to get an A in A-levels than in the Leaving Cert and vice-versa. It is very difficult to compare two different systems particularly as there are reports of differences between the percentages of high grades awarded by the various examining boards in Britain and Northern Ireland. In addition, modular A-levels are becoming more prevalent.
Of course, the question of places for A-level students is particularly germane this year as fees have been introduced in colleges in Britain and Northern Ireland. The strength of sterling against the pound also makes the Republic an attractive destination.
Surely it is about time the colleges decided on some kind of common entry criteria similar to those applied to Leaving Certificate candidates.
Business studies and Chinese at TCD
This enterprising course, which was announced late in the academic year, still has some vacancies.
It involves the intensive study of Chinese (Mandarin) in combination with business studies. The language is taught in the context of Chinese/Asian history, culture, society and institutions. The third year of the four-year course is spent abroad at a Chinese-speaking university.
Leaving Cert subject requirements include two grade Bs in higher-level languages other than English and a grade C in ordinary-level maths or a grade D in higher-level maths.
Apply through the CAO vacant places procedure (course code TR088). Further information from Mr Patrick McCabe, course co-ordinator, school of business studies. Tel: (01) 608 1164.
Computing at Carlow IT
The minimum entry requirements for Carlow IT's new B.Sc in computer networking is a Leaving Cert with grade C3 or better in two higher-level papers together with grade D3 ordinary level or better in four subjects.
A pass in maths and either Irish or English must be included. College Places highlighted the vacancies on this course on August 18th but gave the entry requirements as two D3s at higher level rather than two C3s so apologies for the error.
CAO deadline
Acceptances of college places must be with the CAO by 5.15 p.m. tomorrow. If you do not accept an offer, you are deemed to have rejected it and the place will be offered to somebody else. Your chance of obtaining a higher preference in the second and subsequent rounds of offers is not affected by your acceptance or rejection of a first-round offer.
If, however, you have received a first-preference offer, you will not be made any subsequent offers from this list. The certificate/diploma and degree lists operate independently of each year.
Remember, if you are posting your application, you should obtain proof of posting.