College Choice/Brian Mooney: Nursing has now joined the ranks of career choices only open to those with relatively high- scoring Leaving Certificates. Last year only students scoring in excess of 350 points secured places in general nursing.
Many colleges required a minimum of more than 400 points so the days when a well-motivated average student could aspire to general nursing following the Leaving Cert are over.
Places in psychiatric and intellectual disability nursing are less sought after and points are somewhat lower. For example, some lucky students secured places in St Angela's in Sligo in intellectual disability nursing last year on 210 points.
Two new programmes will begin this year: a four-year degree programme in midwifery and a 4½-year degree programme in children's and general nursing (integrated).
There are five courses in nursing and midwifery, referred to as pre-registration courses and all are at level eight honours bachelor of science (BSc).
They take place in 13 higher education institutions in association with 56 main healthcare agencies (hospitals/ clinical sites). There are 44 programmes with 1,880 places in nursing and midwifery at pre-registration level.
The five courses are: intellectual disability nursing: four years leading to BSc plus registration. There are eight programmes with 240 places in eight higher education institutions in association with 10 main healthcare agencies.
Courses offered and points required last year are: (DC217) Dublin City University (295 points), (DK872) Dundalk I.T. (215), (LY152) Letterkenny I.T. (250), (AS130) St Angela's Sligo (210), (CK730) UCC (350), (TR097) Trinity College (300), LM154) UL (350), (WD120) Waterford IT (385).
Psychiatric nursing: four years leading to BSc plus registration; 12 programmes with 343 places in 12 higher education institutions in association with 14 main healthcare agencies.
Courses offered and points required: (LM152) UL (350), (AL112) Athlone IT (325), (DC216) Dublin City University (320), (DK874) Dundalk IT (305), (GA882) Galway-Mayo IT (330), (TL115) Tralee IT (365), (LY142) Letterkenny IT (305), (GY516) NUI Galway (350), (CK720), UCC (380), (DN120) UCD (350), (TR095) Trinity College (320), (WD117) Waterford IT (350).
General nursing: four years leading to BSc plus registration; 14 programmes with 1,057 places, in 13 higher education institutions in association with 21 main healthcare agencies.
Courses offered and points required: (AL110) Athlone IT (360), (DC215) Dublin City University (385), (DK870) Dundalk IT (355), (GA880) Galway-Mayo IT (370), (TL110) Tralee IT (385), (LY137) Letterkenny IT (365), (GY515) NUI Galway (410), (AS110) St Angela's Sligo (360), (CK710) UCC (415), (DN110) UCD (365), (TR091) Trinity College (380), (LM150) UL (415), (WD116) Waterford IT (400), (TR093) Trinity College (Adelaide) (395).
Children's and general nursing (integrated): 4½ years leading to BSc plus registration; four programmes with 100 places in four higher education institutions in association with four main healthcare agencies. These are new courses offered for the first time this September: (DC218) Dublin City University, (CK712) UCC, (DN116) UCD, and (TR911) Trinity College.
Midwifery: four years leading to BSc plus registration; six programmes with 140 places in six higher education institutions in association with seven main healthcare agencies. These are new courses offered for the first time this September: (DK877) Dundalk IT, (GY517) NUI Galway, (CK740) UCC, (DN118) UCD, (TR913) Trinity College, and (LM156) UL.
Men and women of all ages are encouraged to apply. An applicant to nursing or midwifery may use two codes.
The standard code is for those applicants who have the Leaving Cert (or equivalent) entry requirements. For details see Nursing/Midwifery A Career for You (2006), available from the Nursing Careers Centre (NCC).
For students who do not achieve the points, 12 of the higher education institutions will consider specific Fetac level two courses, with specific modules, as an equivalent entry.
Application is made through the usual CAO method.
The mature code is for those applicants who are 23 or over on January 1st, 2006, and who do not have, or do not expect to have, the education entry requirements. They will undergo an assessment process. For details, see Nursing/Midwifery A Career for You (2006). A quota of places is allocated to mature code applicants. Applicants wishing to use the mature code must have their application with the CAO by February 1st (www.cao.ie).
Order of merit: Those who meet the minimum entry requirements will be placed on an order of merit list for each course in nursing or midwifery for which they have applied. The position on the lists is determined by Leaving Cert (or equivalent) points for standard code applicants, scores achieved at the written assessment for mature code applicants who pass the NCC interview.
Tomorrow: hospitality and tourism.
Brian Mooney's column on
CAO options will appear each weekday in the run-up to the deadline at
the end of this month.
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