Who sets the points? It's amazing the misconceptions that still abound. People often complain about colleges setting unrealistically high points levels for particular courses.
Of course, the colleges do not set cut-off points for courses - they are determined by the number of applications, the points the applicants achieve and the number of places available. The situation changes from year to year. Indeed, it changes during the college applications season as people reject places, which are then filled by other applicants with lower points.
The cut-off level is simply the points obtained by the last student offered a place on the course. Everyone else on the course had similar or higher points. So it is you, the applicants, who set the cut-off levels. They are not an arbitrary figure plucked from the air by the colleges. The colleges merely set minimum entry standards, which may include special subject requirements.
Cut-off points are not a reflection of course quality. The Commission on the Points System has recommended that the CAO include in its handbook the approximate number of places available (or the numbers of places available the previous year) on each course.
This would make parents and students aware that cut-off points are "largely determined by the supply-demand situation and that the fewer the places available on a course, the higher the points will be".
It's fashionable to take a pessimistic view of your chances of securing a college place. Many students waste time and nervous energy worrying about points levels and juggling their course choices accordingly.
A recent letter to The Irish Times claimed that you would need to be Einstein to secure a college place under the current system. Well, let's look at what happened last year.
The CAO received applications from just over 65,000 students. A total of 85,516 offers of first-year places were made. This was possible as some students received two offers: the certificate/diploma and the degree lists operate independently. Of course, they could only accept one offer. As places were rejected they were re-offered to other applicants.
By the end of the process, places had been offered to 54,220 applicants, so 83 per cent of applicants were offered a college place. This is very encouraging, especially when you factor in the applicants who would not have fulfilled the minimum entry requirements and, therefore, were not eligible for an offer.
What happened next? In all, the CAO recorded 36,842 acceptances. The rejection rate was far higher at certificate/diploma level than at degree level. So we find 33,618 offers of first-year places on degree courses and 20,179 acceptances. At certificate/diploma level, there were 51,898 offers of places made with 16,663 acceptances.
There has been a huge increase in the number of third-level places in the past decade. In 1992 there were 26,762 first-year places, compared with 36,842 acceptances last year.
What exactly would you have needed to get a college place last year? That depends on the course and college you wanted. At the higher end of the scale, if you wanted to study medicine at TCD you would have needed at least 570 points; at NUI Galway at least 550.
Then again, if you wanted to study civil engineering at certificate/diploma level you would have needed 350 points to get a place in Cork IT or 120 for Athlone IT, while Sligo IT offered places to all qualified applicants. You should consider shopping around for similar courses in different colleges. In general, there is a higher demand for courses in colleges in urban centres.
And it's not just similar courses. It is possible to have three sets of cut-off points for the same course. Look at office information systems in Athlone IT.
If you began the course in the college last autumn, you would have required 215 points, whereas if you began the course in the college's outreach centres in Cavan, or Greendale in Dublin, you simply had to fulfil the minimum requirements (grade D3 in five subjects which equates to 25 points). Students who successfully complete year one in the outreach centres are eligible to join year two of the programme in Athlone IT.
The acronym AQA appeared 78 times in the list of CAO cut-off points for 1999. This means courses were offered to all qualified applicants. Most of these courses were at certificate/diploma level in the institutes of technology or in the private third-level colleges where tuition fees apply.
At certificate/diploma level, only eight courses required 395 points or more. Of these, there were four health/paramedical-type courses.
An analysis of 1997 Leaving Certificate results, carried out by the Commission on the Points System, found that 91.5 per cent of candidates got a minimum of five grade D3s (25 points) while just over half obtained a minimum of 140 points. A college place was well within the grasp of most students, if they were prepared to settle for a certificate rather than an ab-initio degree.
A note of caution: it is not enough to secure a place at third level. You must then complete the course in order to graduate. A research paper published by the Commission on the Points System found that, overall, a fifth of those who entered college in 1992 did not finish their course. Nine per cent of students in the universities failed to complete, compared to 33 per cent in the institutes of technology.
When Carlow, Dundalk and Tralee IT carried out a study of non-completion among first-years, the main reason cited by students for leaving was their desire to pursue a different career, and almost all of those who left were pursuing other occupational and educational goals.
MORE than 40 per cent of those dropping out of college said it was the only course open to them, given their points rating. The Points Commission notes that early-leavers were also more likely to have entered on low average Leaving Certificate points, particularly in maths, and to have had difficulties with first-year course demands.
Mr Marcus Rahilly, head of electronics, computers and software engineering at Athlone IT, recently suggested that the minimum maths entry requirement be raised to an ordinary-level D2, rather than the current D3, for technical courses such as electronics. So you should look carefully at the subjects offered in the course. Make sure you will enjoy studying the range of subjects and that you think you will be able for the course.
At third level, the most desirable unit of educational currency is the degree, and the relatively low points for many certificates and diplomas are a reflection of this attitude.
Many students are simply missing the point. Certificates and diplomas are valid qualifications in their own right, but they can also act as stepping stones to degrees.
The number of add-on degrees available in the institutes of technology increases each year. The CAO handbook gives some indication of the availability of these courses.
So, for instance, if you turn to page 57 of the CAO handbook you will see the courses offered by Tralee IT. At first glance, it appears there is only one degree on offer, computing with enterprise studies (course code TL320).
If you read down the certificate/diploma list you will see +DP and +DG written in the far column beside most of the courses. This signifies, for +DP, that an add-on diploma is available, while +DG means an add-on degree is on offer.
The next step is to reach for the college prospectus. If you decide to do a two-year certificate in science (applied biology), and achieve a minimum mark of 55 per cent, you may then apply for a place on the college's national diploma in analytical science or its national diploma in food analysis with quality assurance.
Or, if you get a pass in your certificate, you can do a prescribed period of relevant work experience and then apply for one of the diploma courses.
If you do well enough in your diploma you can then apply for a place on the one-year add-on degree in analytical science. This means that in the space of four years - two for the certificate, one for the diploma and one for the degree - you can get a BSc.
The ladder of opportunity from certificate to diploma to degree is now a well-trodden one. The latest figures released by the Higher Education Authority show that 62.5 per cent of those who graduated with a certificate in 1998 were engaged in further study last April. At diploma level, 48 per cent of graduates were also pursuing studies, presumably to degree level.
Research is the key to finding the course of your choice. If you want a degree, don't write off the certificate/diploma list. There are real opportunities in the institutes of technology.