Many Leaving Cert students believe they have "made it" once they enter college.

No more exam stress. Just a few years of intellectual nourishment - and plenty of craic. But there is also a real downside.

Dropping out

The high numbers who fail their exams or drop out. In some colleges, the drop-out rate can be over 25 per cent. An average drop-out rate of 15 per cent is common across most universities and institutes of technology.

Last year more than than one in four UCD students either failed their first-year science exams or dropped out of the course.

Failing your exams

The following are the failure rates from UCD last year, which are broadly typical across the sector.

Arts 9%

Agriculture 9%

Veterinary 3%

Social science 10%

Nursing and related 6%

Law 0.8%

Architecture 1.8%

Engineering 1%

Medicine 2%