CollegeChoice: This year's students are applying to the CAO at a difficult time, writes Emmet Oliver, Education Correspondent
Seven arduous months lie ahead for this year's 60,000 CAO applicants. While initial applications have to be with CAO by February 1st, the process does not really end until August 27th, when students submit their first round acceptances.
This year's applicants are applying to CAO at a difficult time. The economy is faltering and the jobs market is depressed. For the first time in many years, the level of graduate unemployment, never mind general unemployment, is rising.
Well-qualified engineers and science graduates are currently unemployed around the country, so things are a little bleak for those coming out of the education system right now.
However, the immediate environment should not concern this year's students unduly. By the time they graduate in three or four years' time, the economic climate could be very different.
While there is no shortage of bad news out there, some statistics are a little more cheery. For instance, last year 45 per cent of degree applicants received their first preference.
Of those who applied for a diploma or certificate, almost 70 per cent managed to scoop their first preference. These statistics would seem to undermine the notion that the faceless CAO system is all about grinding down students and their parents. In fact most students get what they want out of the process.
Considering the Options
The key to this year's CAO process will be choosing the right course option. That is key every year, but getting it right is even more important in a depressed jobs market.
The high dropout rates in many colleges, particularly in the technology sector, illustrates the danger of treating the process lightly.
There is nothing worse than being a square peg in a round hole in a large faceless institution, but that is what happens to students all the time. The real skill in the CAO process is to be honest about your interests and abilities.
The key word in that sentence is your abilities and interests. While parents, teachers, peers and siblings are important, they will not be taking the course, so it is important you, the student, get it right.
In most schools, career guidance counsellors have circulated the CAO handbook and application form. They have probably also given out college prospectuses and other literature.
While most Leaving Cert students are incredibly busy at this time of the year, it is worth carefully storing this material away and reading it at some stage over the next fortnight.
While February 1st is the initial deadline for CAO applications, you have until July 1st to change your mind via the change-of-mind form.
A CAO spokesman said yesterday students can even send in a blank list before February 1st if they want, and add in courses later. The crucial thing to do at this stage is to get something in.
However be warned, if you miss February 1st you will miss out on "restricted application" courses, which are mainly in the area of art and design.
Yet with over 800 courses on offer, and almost 50 colleges hoping to get your vote, the average student could be forgiven for feeling a little overwhelmed.
The first thing to do is ask yourself what you are interested in. In school, what subjects do you like doing? Have you any particular pastimes or interests? What occupation do you think you would like? Do you want to study anymore or would you like to close your books forever?
Some career guidance counsellors have tests which provide answers to these questions. But ideally it is better if you answer them yourself, preferably with some input from your parents.
College or the Course?
Sometimes students wonder which should come first; the college or the course? Ideally, the course should come first. But in reality they go together.
A course, however well respected by academics and employers, is not much use if you are miserable in the college where it is offered.
Likewise, a great college, with lavish sports facilities and a great bar, is of little use if the degree or diploma you pick up at the end is virtually worthless.
Getting the balance right is the important thing. Last year's sixth years tended to gravitate towards the traditional colleges. At university level, UCD and Trinity picked up the lion's share of CAO first preferences, with universities such as DCU and the University of Limerick finding things a little tougher.
The same students also displayed a certain amount of conservatism when it came to selecting their courses. Law, teaching, business and arts returned with a vengeance, while computers and to a certain extent science took a backseat.
You will decide whether these trends continue this year.
Tomorrow: Arts courses