Points are down across a broad range of courses, but medical related courses remain an exception, writes Áine Kerr.
Breaking ranks with the downward trend in the lamented points race, medicine and its related fields will continue to fuel competition among students for the small cohort of places available in medical schools.
In effect, the high-demand courses are creating a points race exclusive to the medical field.
Despite a significant decrease in the number of students applying to the CAO this year, medicine and nursing courses experienced a 7 per cent increase in first preference applications.
Consequently, points for medicine in UCC, RCSI, Trinity College, UCD and NUI Galway have stabilised between 570 and 590, with the medicine course in UCC increasing by five points to 580.
In effect, students hoping to attend Trinity College as a medicine student require almost six A1s, a level only achieved by around 150 students every year.
The fact that it is medicine which has broken with trends this year is of little surprise.
Consistently, it has been the course noted for the high points required, the student profile it attracts, the numbers who repeat their Leaving Certificate in an effort to gain entry and the efforts of the Department of Education to combat its rising points.
Earlier this month, the Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, announced the provision of 70 additional places in the State's five medical schools effective from September.
In all, the number of medical places for Irish and EU students will increase from 305 to 725 over a four-year period.
But despite the increased places and the introduction of a new graduate-entry level system for medicine, no student will gain entry to a medicine course without a minimum of 570 points. Even with 570 points, students may still lose out to repeat Leaving Certificate students and applicants from Northern Ireland and Britain.
In 2005, only 140 first-time Leaving Certificate students secured places on the 305 medical places.
In the related fields of medicine, such as dentistry, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and pharmacy, demand for places through the CAO actually decreased among students this year.
However, the decrease in applications failed to translate into a reduction in points.
Instead, points for dentistry and occupational therapy increased in UCC, alongside increases in pharmacy and physiotherapy in RCSI and increases in dental science, physiotherapy and occupational therapy in Trinity College.
But amid the rising points in medicine and related fields, the overall CAO canvas tells of falling points, an increased number of courses and the steady slow down of the points race overall.
Arts courses, which broadly appeal to students undecided about a career path and provide a holistic academic performance, have witnessed a significant reduction in points.
In universities famed for their arts degrees such as UCD and NUI Galway, points have decreased by 10 points and 15 points respectively.
In the science sector, where Government awareness and investment has reached unprecedented levels, the courses have experienced decreases in points reflecting the reduction in demand from students.
DCU recorded one of the most substantial decreases with its science education course falling from 385 points to 350 points in the space of 12 months.
The surprise 14 per cent decrease in the number of applicants for teacher-training courses came amid a high-profile campaign by the Department of Education to attract men into the profession.
After threatening to break the 500 mark some years ago, students can now gain entry to teaching courses with 455 points in St Patrick's College and 460 points in Mary Immaculate College.