A major fall has occurred in the number of college applicants seeking places on such highpoints degree courses as medicine and dentistry, according to confidential CAO statistics.
The figures - seen by The Irish Times - also show science courses making a strong recovery after many poor years, and traditional areas such as arts and law increasing in popularity.
The number of students putting medicine on their CAO list this year has dropped by 17 per cent compared with last year. At the same time the number putting dentistry on their list has fallen by 15 per cent and veterinary medicine was also down by a small amount.
The number of students putting medicine and dentistry as their first preference was also down.
According to college sources, students are becoming more reluctant to study medicine and dentistry, which take longer to complete than most third-level courses.
Another factor is that with salary levels rising in other areas, medicine and dentistry are not necessarily the best-paid professions now.
The number of students choosing a science course as their first preference has risen by three per cent - the first increase for many years. It is now the fourth most popular area after arts/social science, business/administration and engineering/technology.
The numbers taking science subjects at Leaving Certificate have collapsed over the last decade and the Government - which has been making efforts to boost interest in them - will be encouraged by the latest figures.
There was a seven per cent increase in the number of students choosing law as their first preference, from 2,448 last year to 2,610 this year.
Arts/social science courses remained the most popular option for applicants, with 13,125 choosing one of them as a first preference.
This was a five per cent increase on last year. Business courses fell by eight per cent this year, but this area tends to fluctuate significantly from year to year.
The picture was mixed for education courses - mainly primary teacher training courses.
The number of applicants putting education at the top of their list dropped by five per cent, but the number putting it farther down their list was up six per cent. However, most of the teacher training colleges suffered sharp drops in first-preference applicants.
First preferences for architecture were down by six per cent and art and design courses were down by four per cent.
Because applicants are allowed to change their choices (with some exceptions) until July, the current patterns could alter. However, the trends established by March do not tend to change greatly, particularly in the most popular areas.