Emer McGrath got the highest score in last year's Leaving.
When Emer McGrath scored eight A1s in the Leaving Cert last year, she earned the highest marks of any student sitting the exam in 2002. Having scored the highest marks possible, she headed off to study her first choice, theoretical physics at Trinity College Dublin.
But it didn't take long for her to realise that theoretical physics wasn't for her. "It wasn't what I expected it to be. It was more mathematical and theoretical than I thought, and while I love maths, I would prefer to be able to apply maths more," she says.
So Emer, being only 18 , did the sensible thing and took a year off to re-evaluate her goals. Since last autumn, she has been working in the accounts department of a hardware store in her home town of Ballinrobe, Co Mayo. "I've enjoyed the job. It's been good experience," she says.
Emer has reapplied to the CAO for medicine at University College Galway. After a year's reflection, she thinks a career in medicine, which involves working with people as well as applying mathematical knowledge in areas such as genetics, will suit her better.
She will also be with many of her friends, some of whom repeated the Leaving this year in the hope of attending UCG.
Considering that Emer scored the highest possible marks in maths, applied maths, biology, physics, chemistry, English and French last year, there is no doubt that she will receive a letter on Tuesday, August 19th, offering her the place of her first choice.
Many who receive their results this Wednesday, followed by a CAO offer next week, will be delighted, while others will be disappointed.
It will not be unusual for students to get their first choice, only to discover once they start the course that it doesn't suit them. It's certainly a case of being careful what you wish for .
Emer thinks that fifth-year students should be offered the chance to attend university courses to get a more realistic idea of what they entail.
This is a view supported by Mr John McGabhann, information and research officer with the TUI. While third-level institutions hold orientation days, these tend to confirm the dewy-eyed view that secondary students already have, he says.
Spending a day shadowing a first-year may give a more realistic view, he suggests.
Emer's advice to this year's crop of sixth-years, who will be filling in their CAO forms in November, is to do their research and find out as much as possible about the courses that interest them before making a final decision.