Today is the deadline for the 60,000 students who wish to apply to the Central Applications Office (CAO) for a place at third level. The CAO is expecting a late rush of applications before this evening's 5.15pm deadline. Hopefully, students will have given ample time to their application. Career guidance teachers report how many students "sleepwalk" through the application process, without ever grasping the importance of the options put before them. Remarkably few students, for example, bother to visit the website of the third-level college they hope to attend. Fewer still bother to visit the college or talk to current students.
For all that, it must be acknowledged that the January CAO process comes at a difficult time for Leaving Certificate students. Most are focused firmly - or should be - on the mock exams this month, the subsequent oral exams and the Leaving Cert itself in June. The CAO process may determine a long-term career choice but for many students it can seem like a diversion at this time of year. The good news for students and their parents is that it probably has never been easier to secure the college course of choice.
Yes, points requirements for medicine, law and the like will remain beyond the grasp of all but a small minority but most students should encounter few difficulties.
Last year about three-quarters of all students secured one of their top three CAO options; some 40 per cent gained a place on the course they listed as their No 1 option.
The Class of 2006 can choose from a bewildering array of options. More than 700 courses are available in over 50 third-level colleges. The declining number of first-time Leaving Cert students means that the pressure on points for most courses is nothing like what it was a generation ago. To add to the sunny picture, the employment rate for graduates is at record levels.
It is to be hoped that students and their parents will not be overly conservative in their choices. While the boom in demand for places in teaching and nursing is welcome, the failure to arrest the decline in demand for places in computers and engineering is worrying.
It is astonishing to think that less than 1 per cent of the elite group which scores 450 points or more in the Leaving Cert will take computing at third level, as recent research has indicated. Demand for engineering - even in well-regarded colleges like Dublin City University - continues to fall below expectations.
The Government, business and teachers have been gently exhorting students to consider options in these areas. But, with little signs of progress, a more robust approach may now be required.