You thought it was all over. You got that place in college last year and began life as a third-level student last September or October.
Sadly, things have not gone as planned and you're now wondering about filling out another CAO application. You're not alone. The final report of the Commission on the Points System notes that about 9 per cent of university students and 33 per cent of students in the institutes of technology fail to complete their courses.
A substantial proportion of calls to the Irish Times help-line over the past two days have been from first-year students who are unhappy with their course choice. Some students have sat their first semester exams and are worried they will fail. Others now realise they are not interested in the course after all, usually because they didn't know exactly what they were getting into.
Deadlines are looming - the CAO application deadline is February 1st, while January 31st is a significant date if you are benefiting from the free-fees initiative and/ or a maintenance grant: students who drop out of a course before January 31st need pay only half-fees for a subsequent first year, but if the January 31st deadline has passed when you drop out, you will be liable for full fees in your next first year.
There is an exception to this rule, as students on ESF-funded undergraduate courses, which are largely the preserve of the institutes of technology, may drop out, pass or fail first year and reapply for a different ESF-funded course without affecting their fees or grant entitlement. Students may avail of this provision only once.
First-year students who hope to change course in the autumn must reapply through the CAO, and this time you must fill out all four pages of the form. You must state that you are applying on the basis of last year's Leaving Certificate and you must also state what you have been doing in the meantime.
Colleges vary in their attitudes to students who have done first year or, at least, part of it. While you must fulfil the points requirements, there are other considerations. For instance, if, having failed first year, you apply for a similar course in UCD (whether you did first year in UCD or elsewhere), there could be a problem. The admissions officer will look in detail at each application and the subjects that you failed. However, if you are applying for a very different course, on the basis of points, there shouldn't be a problem.
In TCD, UL, DIT and Cork IT, this isn't a worry: students who are in first year in third level already and who apply for the first year of another course are admitted on the basis of Leaving Certificate points only.
If you are in first year now and are thinking of reapplying through the CAO for a place on a different course, then it would be wise to contact the admissions office of the particular college to find out what its policy is.
Guidance counsellor Mr Vivian Cassells advises students to be "absolutely sure they have made a wrong decision and are no longer interested in pursuing the course they are currently engaged in". Once you have made that decision you should think about leaving before January 31st so you can save half the fees.
Mr Cassells says, however, that students on ESF-funded courses should consider seeing the year out and sitting their first-year exams. The decision may come down to finances anyway, as the time could be used to earn some money. With the present economic climate, many shops, restaurants and hotels are actively seeking employees so it shouldn't be too difficult to find work. Remember to inform the college that you are dropping out of the course.
"It is very important, when you are reapplying, not to repeat the mistake you made in your first application. You must list your course choices on the CAO form in genuine order of preference. There is a danger that knowing what your points are and knowing the points necessary for various courses in 1999 you will play the points game," advises Mr Cassells.
All of this is an object lesson for students applying for college places this year - research the course properly, read the prospectus, talk to your guidance counsellor, go to the college open day, try to find somebody who has done the course or who is working in the area. Do not rely on the list of course titles supplied in the CAO handbook - the CAO is an applications mechanism rather than a source of information on courses and colleges.
Deferrals
Taking a year out of education, between second and third level, can give you a breathing space: time to mature, to earn money or, perhaps, to travel and brush up your language skills. Most colleges look favourably on requests for deferrals.
The exceptions are the National College of Art and Design and Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, which will not consider applications for deferred entry. In addition, Tralee IT does not allow students to defer places on TL101 humanities (folk theatre studies) while UCD does not allow for deferred entry on to DN022 arts (modular evening course).
The Royal College of Surgeons and UCC (in the case of courses CK701, medicine, and CK702, dentistry), will only consider applications for deferral in exceptional circumstances.
If you are considering taking a year out, you simply apply to the CAO in the normal way and once you have received an offer in August, you must follow the procedure set out on page four of the CAO handbook. Queries about deferrals should be directed to the admissions offices, not to the CAO.
Repeating the Leaving Cert already?
A number of sixth-year students rang the help-line, saying they were considering repeating (before they have even sat the Leaving) and should they fill out the CAO form at all?
Mr Cassells says students often panic coming up to mock exams and underestimate their knowledge and the amount of the course they have covered. Try not to give up at this stage and you may find yourself agreeably surprised in August. Even if you don't think you will do well on points, you can accumulate basic subject requirements.
For instance, you may hope for a place in an NUI college, which has a requirement for Irish. You can pass Irish this year and you won't need to take it again next year, leaving you free to take up a new subject or to concentrate on the other subjects you are taking for points purposes.
You cannot accumulate points over a number of Leaving Certs. Points are calculated on the basis of six subjects taken at the same sitting for the Leaving Cert.
The final report of the Commission on the Points System notes that in the case of entrants to healthcare courses in 1998 "there appears to be a strong relationship between subject choice, high grades and repetition of the Leaving Cert".
Almost one-third of the entrants to these courses - 157 students - had repeated the Leaving Cert, compared to an average of 15.5 per cent for all courses. Eighty per cent of the 157 students would not have been eligible for entry based on their repeat Leaving Certificate course alone - they had met the basic entry requirements on their first sitting and then dropped the relevant subjects. Many of the students took up new subjects for the first time in their repeat sitting.
The commission has recommended that the points and the basic entry requirements, with the exception of Irish in the NUI colleges, be attained in the same sitting of the Leaving Cert.
It also recommended some disincentive, such as a reduction of 10 per cent of the points score, for a candidate's third and subsequent sitting of the Leaving Cert.
The recommendations of the Points Commission have yet to be approved by the Minister for Education and Science. There is also a two-year lead-in for most changes which affect college entry.
Open day
Students, teachers, parents and guidance counsellors are welcome to attend DIT's annual open day which will take place on Saturday, January 22nd, in DIT Bolton Street, Dublin. Academic staff will make presentations on full-time courses in 21 separate areas - at 10 a.m., 11.30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2.30 p.m.
Visitors will have the opportunity of attending four different presentations during the day. Presentations will include marketing/retail studies, communications, art and design, hospitality management/tourism/leisure management, food science /environmental studies, applied social studies/early childhood care, information technology/computing, transport (engineering /management), geomatics, architecture, construction, property economics/auctioneering, applied sciences, paramedical science, business studies/transport management, languages and business, engineering (electrical/electronic), engineering (building services/mechanical/manufacturing/structural).
There is no need to pre-book.