INTEREST IN nursing, physiotherapy, law and built environment courses has declined among second-level students this year, according to new statistics from the Central Applications Office (CAO).
Conversely courses in the areas of arts/social science, science, education, engineering, medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry and pharmacy were more in demand among students this year compared to last year.
A record 68,112 second-level students applied for a third-level place this year, registered figures show. The figure is more than 2,200 higher than the total submitted last year and is an all-time high.
According to the CAO, most of the applicants are Leaving Cert students and the number of mature students who applied has increased slightly compared to 2007.
The Leaving Cert results will be out next Wednesday and the CAO said first round offers will be published the following Monday.
Round one offers will be available on the CAO website, www.cao.ie from 6am on Monday, August 18th and paper offer notices will be posted to arrive no later than the following day.
The deadline for round one offer acceptance is August 26th at 5.15pm and offers may be accepted online or by returning the appropriate part of the offer notice to the CAO, said CAO spokeswoman Melissa Nugent. Round two offers will be available on www.cao.ie from August 29th and the final reply date for round two offers is September 3rd.