Today is the final day for students to finish off their CAO application forms. Technically the forms need to be with the CAO in Galway by 5.15 p.m. tomorrow, although staff there will not be picking up the post until Monday morning.
Of course many of you will not be sending them in the post, but using the online option at www.cao.i.e.. The deadline applies to online applicants too.
The CAO reported yesterday that more than 26,000 applicants have used the online service to date. It encourages students who have yet to send their forms to use this option today. The later you leave it the greater the chance your computer (or the CAO's) could crash. So you better move quickly.
However it must be pointed out that if you are ill or otherwise pre-occupied you can still submit your forms up until May 1st. But you will be charged €70 for the pleasure of submitting it late. Also, you will not be eligible for the various "restricted application" courses spread throughout the third-level system. Also mature students beware - a lot of courses are not available to you after February 1st.
However if you have done everything right you can sit back in your chair and concentrate on your exams. You should not expect to hear from the CAO again until about March 15th.
At that stage the CAO will send you an acknowledgement card informing you it has received your choices.
If you hear nothing during that period the alarm bells should ring and you must contact the CAO explaining that you sent in your forms to find out what happened. It will want to see your certificate of posting, but once you have that everything should be fine.
The next time you hear from CAO is early May when it will send you a full list of choices and tell you about the change of mind facility. You can use the change of mind facility until July 1st, after that whole system shuts off (at least for applicants).
Theoretically you can change your mind as much as you like between now and July 1st, but constantly altering your choices is not advised. The president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, Mr Brian Mooney, puts it bluntly: "You will end up with two perfect lists, but a lousy Leaving Cert."
The safest thing is to get on with your exam preparations and forget about the CAO for the moment. Remember if things go wrong (or right) in the Leaving Cert there is still time after the exam to change your course choices. You have until July 1st to upgrade or downgrade your expectations.
Fees: The other question hanging over the whole CAO process this year is whether students who do make it to college in 2003/2004 will have to pay tuition fees. It is difficult to answer that at present.
Remember no matter what the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, decides, a lot of parents are going to have to pay some kind of student registration charge. This is currently set at €670. Colleges use it to pay for exams, registration and other costs outside the area of strict tuition.
Obviously, if you qualify for a grant you do not have to pay, although some students had to pay it up front this year, only to be refunded later.
With Mr Dempsey reviewing the whole funding structure at third level, it is difficult to say with any precision what arrangements will be in place for next year's students.
A lot of sources suggest that whatever Mr Dempsey decides on, it is unlikely to be phased in by this September, but you never know.
The two possible models being suggested are a loans type system or outright fees. The second model would hurt parents and students straight away. It would involve families having to fork out thousands of pounds in tuition fees before registration in September/October.
The other system would not hit parents/students in the pocket immediately.
You would not have to pay any tuition fees up front, but when you graduate and get your first job you would have to start repaying the Exchequer for the investment it made in you during your college career.
The money would probably come straight out of your pay cheque via the tax system. Either way the ball is in Mr Dempsey's court. This year's students have to apply to the CAO without knowing the outcome of his review, although sources believe the loans system is the most likely arrangement to emerge.
Teaching: Earlier this week the column outlined the options for students thinking about a teaching career. Due to space constraints, it was not possible to go into much detail about second-level teaching. However, it was pointed out that the traditional route was via a Higher Diploma in Education (H.Dip) taken after the student has completed their primary degree.
Well, the University of Limerick wants to point out that it offers five programmes for teaching directly at second level offered through the CAO. Three of these programmes have been available for many years - physical education, construction technology and engineering technology.
The other programmes are revised programmes in science. Full details are available on the university's website at www.ul.ie. Graduates of these programmes can enter second-level teaching directly.
The Mater Dei Institute in Milltown, Co Dublin, is also offering some teaching courses via the CAO and students can get details on materdei.ie.
If you are interested in teaching religion (plus one other subject - English, history or music) in a secondary school, you can take its Bachelor of Religious Education course which runs over four years.
Media: In addition to colleges mentioned earlier this week offering journalism and media courses - DCU, DIT and Griffith College - NUI Maynooth is also offering a new course called Media Studies (MH 109).
This is a very broad-based media offering, with subjects as diverse as cinema, creative writing, radio production, television production and script writing all available. As part of the course you can also study an arts subject. However, unlike some of the other courses, this one does not heavily emphasise print media.Because a lot of the work is done in radio and television studios, the college can only admit 40 students, so points could be high. You need a C3 or better in higher-level English to gain a place.
This series has concluded