CAO points have remained at last year’s record high level with most applicants — 82 per cent — securing one of their top-three course preferences in this year’s CAO round one college offers.
Just over half of applicants — 52 per cent — secured their top course preferences.
However, universities have been forced to use random selection, or a lottery, to select applicants in about 50 courses this year.
This is due to the “bunching” of students with top grades on foot of Leaving Cert grade inflation.
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Among the courses affected are those in areas such as medicine, dentistry, economics and finance, and management science, among others.
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The proportion of courses on random selection, however, is down on last year’s 75 courses.
Overall, a total of 57,296 students received offers from the CAO at 2pm on Thursday afternoon. The number of offers is up about 2,000 on last year.
Points have climbed across many courses relating to the environment, construction - such as architecture and quantity surveying - as well as arts and humanities programmes.
They have fallen in areas such as nursing, journalism and primary teaching. This was broadly expected and is in line with trends in application numbers this year.
Some of the highest points courses are in areas such as medicine, dental science, veterinary science, global business courses, along with some computer science and engineering courses.
A number of programmes also reached the maximum points ceiling of 625 points.
They include Trinity College Dublin’s dental science, management science & information systems studies; joint honours combinations including philosophy and sociology; social policy and political science; and sociology and social policy. At UCD, economics & finance also climbed to 625 points.
Minister for Further and Higher Simon Harris said today was a “major milestone| for students as they receive their first round CAO offers and embark on the next stage in their educational journey.
“This cohort of students completed most of their Leaving Cert cycle under the cloud of Covid -19, and all the challenges to learning that brought. They showed incredible drive, understanding and flexibility to ensure the system worked, and for that I want to thank them, and of course their teachers,” he said.
However, universities are alarmed over the impact of grade inflation and, in particular, the impact on high-achieving students
Trinity vice-provost Orla Sheils said she was concerned about the inequity brought about by grade inflation.
“A lottery system for high-points courses is very unfair. We need to get back to a fairer competition. As the economist Fred Hirsch once said: ‘If everyone stands on tiptoe, no one sees better,’” she said.
Prof Barbara Dooley, UCD deputy president and registrar-confirmed, said the points this year are a reflection of the grade inflation at Leaving Cert level.
She said the university has worked to try to broaden entry routes to help prevent points “spiralling”.
“We are acutely aware that students who may not get their first preference can be disappointed — especially when they have performed so well in the Leaving Certificate,” she said.
“Over the years we reduced the number of entry routes and made more common entries to broad subject areas such as science and engineering in an effort to prevent points from spiralling. This is good for the student who gets to sample different options in first or second year and then specialise towards the end of their degree.”
Colleges at a glance:
UCD
First-round offers for UCD show points increases for about half of the university’s 35 entry routes.
The biggest climber is humanities (442), up 83 points. In addition, the joint honours in arts/humanities has climbed upwards (400), a jump of 44 points, along with modern languages (380) which is up 60 points.
Other big upward movers include sustainability (543), up 37 points, city planning and environmental policy (455), up 35 points, in line with trends this year that show increased interest among school-leavers in the environment.
In total, five degrees require over 600 points and remain at the same level as last year: actuarial and financial studies (613), veterinary medicine (601 with random selection), physiotherapy (601), biomedical, health & life sciences (613), and economics & finance (625).
Economics and finance is the highest points requirement for any course at UCD (625) and has 55 places.
UCD said it has managed to reduce the number of degrees on random selection to two: veterinary medicine (601) and commerce (554).
Trinity College Dublin
The university estimates about five out of six students (84 per cent) who secured a CAO offer from Trinity in the first round received one of their three top choices, while 60 per cent received their top choice.
Overall, it says cut-off points for courses offered in round one have fallen by an average of 3.5 points.
A total of nine single-honours courses are at random selection in 2022.
These are dental science (625); management science and information systems studies (625); philosophy, political science, economics and sociology (613, unchanged); physiotherapy (590*, unchanged), radiation therapy (556*), down 11 points; human health and disease (601, unchanged); biological and biomedical sciences (578, unchanged); pharmacy (613, unchanged); and global business 601 (down from 613*)
This is down from 17 courses which were at random selection at the same stage last year.
Although medicine was not on random selection this year, points rose slightly (745 points, including Hpat, up two points).
The number of CAO applicants opting for Trinity as their first choice has been climbing steadily in recent years and is up 45 per cent on 2019.
In a sign of the extent of grade inflation, three joint honours combinations (philosophy and sociology; social policy and political science; and sociology and social policy) were at the maximum of 625 points, without random selection.
Other courses that recorded sharp points increases included computer science, linguistics and a language (543), up 100 points.
Middle Eastern and European languages and cultures also saw points climb to 552 (up 32) as did business studies and Polish (431), up 40 points.
University of Galway
A mixed pattern this year with points increases for 28 programmes and decreases for 34 programmes.
All engineering and law programmes are above the 500-point barrier, as well as all bar one commerce programme.
Three courses require more than 600 points — medicine, which goes to random allocation, even though additional places have been secured nationally. The others are biomedical science and commerce in international hotel management, at Shannon College of Hotel Management which has a combined score requirement.
Three courses saw an increase of more than 50 points — environmental science; project and construction management; electrical and electronic engineering.
Seven programmes saw a decrease of more than 50 points: arts with human rights; arts — drama, theatre and performance; arts with journalism; BSc applied social sciences; global media; BA sna dána (léann teanga); electronic and computer engineering.
Maynooth University
The university says first-year numbers will grow to over 3,750 students with increased places in a range of disciplines such as computer science, biomedical sciences, physics and science education.
It says there is also significant demand for its new four-year full-time degree in business and languages to support the economy in a post-Brexit era.
As with previous years, the university’s bachelor of arts degree, continues to experience high demand with additional places offered this year to meet that rising demand. The degree has seen the highest applications and first preferences of any course in the country.
Increased public awareness of science arising from the Covid-19 pandemic appears to have led to strong interest in the Maynooth BSc in biological and biomedical sciences degree.
UCC
The Cork university reflects many of the trends which are playing out nationally.
Medicine remains at a high level (738 points, including Hpat), but has been placed on random selection, a cruel blow for some achieving students. This is despite the additional medicine places announced by the Government earlier this year, which were aimed at taking some of the heat out of the points race.
Similarly, dentistry (625 points) is on random selection, which means some students who secured maximum points still missed out on the course.
Arts and humanities courses are popular this year, with corresponding points increases. English (402) is up 35 points as is arts international (452), up 12.
By contrast, nursing and some health science courses - which benefitted from a boost in interest during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic - are down.
General nursing (464) is down 34 points, as are public health sciences (455), down 50 points, and medical and health sciences (566), down 12 points.
