The news could scarcely be better for students as CAO points tumble in all but a minority of courses, writes Brian Mooney.
Today marks the end of the points race as we have known it for over thirty years.
This morning the CAO has offered places to close to 50,000 applicants, which is the same number as sat the Leaving Certificate this year.
The sharp drop of over three thousand students who took the Leaving Certificate in 2006 and the continued expansion of the range of courses being offered to potential students has transformed the situation facing young people leaving school.
The situation is a reversal of what was happening 20 years ago.
It is now the colleges who are desperately trying to attract students to their courses in a very competitive market.
The effect of this in the dynamic of the third-level application system is evident across the board with points tumbling in all the major areas of interest.
There are a small number of exceptions to the drop in points.
Courses in the medical, para/medical, architecture, and to some extent, engineering areas have retained their elusive status.
Besides those courses that are of interest to candidates scoring over 500 points (representing less than 10 per-cent of applicants) the points required for entry in all areas is down dramatically.
The following is an overview of some key areas:
ARTS
Within the university sector, points for arts degrees - the most popular choice for students - have tumbled. They are down 25 in NUI Galway to 350, 15 in NUI Cork to 345 and 10 in the most popular course in the country - arts in UCD - to 350.
SOCIAL SCIENCE
This trend is even more marked in the areas of social science/sociology. Points are down a massive 50 points in NUI Cork to 345, down twenty points to 375 in UCD, and in Trinity, sociology and social policy is down a massive 35 points to 420*.
BUSINESS
The overall move is also downward here, although Trinity bucks this trend with a five-point increase in those required for BESS to 475*.
The points required for business in Galway are down 15 to 400. In NUI Cork, they are down 10 to 435, in DCU they are also down 10 to 425 and in UL to 400.
In UCD the drop is less pronounced where commerce is down five to 455, although commerce with French and German options are down substantially to 480 and 400 respectively.
SCIENCE
Having recovered slightly in the last two years, the points for science education are again heading downwards, dropping 35 points to 350 in DCU.
They are down 25 in Trinity to 415*, 20 in Galway to 300 and five in UCD to 325.
This downward trend in the points requirement for science, although part of an overall trend, will be of serious concern to both industry and government.
If industry wants to encourage young people to choose science as a career, they are going to have to be very specific, regarding the career paths open to students who respond to their calls.
LAW
One area where the fall in points may surprise some is law.
Given the high profile of some in the profession one might have expected this area of study to buck the trend but this is not the case.
Points are down twenty to below the magic 500 level in UCD, which requires 495 points in round one offers.
Cork also breaches the 500 barrier with 485 points.
As with business, Trinity again bucks the trend with a five point increase to 535*.
In Galway the B Corp Law is down twenty-five to 450* and their BCL degree is down 10 to 490*.
In UL, law with European studies is down to 445.
NURSING
This area, which has seen its points requirement rise each year since it became a level-eight degree programme has also seen a fall. Cork is down five points to 410. In the area of psychiatric and intellectual disability nursing the requirements are up.
In Trinity, psychiatric nursing is up 20 to 340 and intellectual disability nursing is up 30 to 330. In Dundalk IT, intellectual disability nursing is up 85 points to 300 and in Letterkenny IT, it is up 60 to 310 and in St Angela's Sligo, it is up a whopping 115 points to 325.
TEACHING
Primary school teaching, where Mary Hanafin is anxious to recruit more males, has seen a five points drop in its two level-eight degree programmes. St Patrick's Drumcondra and Mary Immaculate in Limerick have seen a five-point drop in points requirements, to 455* and 460.
MEDICINE
This is the one area without a fall. Points required for medicine in the current year are: UCC 580, RCSI 570*, Trinity 590*, UCD 575* and NUI Galway 570*.
Although additional places will be provided each year over the next number of years at undergraduate level, the hope for those students who do not wish to go abroad is to take an undergraduate degree and hope to secure one of the new post-graduate places that are being rolled out from September 2007. But even the new post-graduate courses seem unlikely to lead to a reduction in CAO point levels. This is because of the huge demand among students for places in this area. Last year some 44 per cent of those achieving 500 points-plus in the Leaving Cert sought places in medicine related areas.
OTHER MEDICAL COURSES
Points requirements here continue to rise. In UCC, dentistry is up five points to 560, occupational therapy is up twenty to 525*.
In the Royal College of Surgeons physiotherapy is up 10 to 540* and pharmacy is up five to 545*.
At Trinity, dental science is up ten to 565*, as is physiotherapy to 550* and occupational therapy is up five to 510. In UL physiotherapy is up fifteen to 585*.
It is clear that in the medical and para/medical fields, the additional places will not lead to a reduction in the massive points requirements sought by colleges.
* Not all students on these point levels will be offered places as random selection applies.