The Central Applications Office, which handles the vast majority of applications to publicly-funded third-level institutions, has rejected as "rubbish" talk about students being "ground down" by a faceless, computer-run applications system.
A CAO spokesman said over the weekend it was clear that this year, as in every year, "the students are using the system correctly to obtain just what they want".
He said some 75 per cent of the 62,600 applicants would receive at least one offer through the CAO. "The students know what they are doing. They put the courses in order of their preference and they get the highest preference which they earn on the basis of their exam results.
"They are in control of the system. They choose the courses. They do the exams. They get an offer of a course based on their exam results. No computer is making decisions for them. Therefore, the nonsense which is sometimes talked about students being ground down by a faceless system is just that - rubbish."