CAO points requirements have fallen dramatically for a range of computer and engineering courses over the past decade as students desert these areas.
However, driven by student demand, points requirements for courses in business and law increased as the Celtic Tiger economy took hold.
A comparison of points required in 1996 and 2006 also shows a steep fall in the points needed to enter courses in arts, social sciences and agriculture-related areas.
TCD is the only college where points requirements for most degree programmes have risen since 1996.
The number of points needed to be accepted into the vast majority of degree programmes has fallen in most other universities, including DCU and the University of Limerick.
The situation is broadly stable at UCD and UCC, where points needed for a similar number of degree programmes have moved both up and down in the past decade.
All but three of the 22 higher-level degree programmes on offer at DCU since 1996 have seen a fall in the number of points required.
Points needed to do computer applications at the university are down from 415 to 300; biotechnology is down 65 points to 335; and mechatronics engineering is down 45 to 275.
Points requirements for computer- and science-related courses are down across all seven universities. Points needed to enter UCD's science degree have fallen from 415 to 325 in the past decade.
While points requirements for most courses at TCD have increased, those for computer science have dropped by 30 since 1996.
The largest undergraduate course in the State - arts at UCD - has seen its points requirement fall from 390 in 1996 to 350 last year.
Courses requiring higher-level maths are down across the board, reflecting the shrinking pool of Leaving Cert students with good grades in the subject.
The degrees in question include theoretical physics at TCD (down 55 to 490 points) and maths at TCD (down 80 points).
Career experts expect the latest points requirements, to be published on Monday, will be broadly in line with last year, when they slipped to historically low levels.
CAO points: 1996 to 2006
What's up?Business, Music, Medicine, Dentistry, Law, Psychology
What's down?Engineering, Arts, Social Science, Computers, Science, Social policy
Based on comparison of CAO points levels for higher degree programmes in 1996 and 2006
