In the hiatus between Round 1 and Round 2 CAO offers, the Col- lege Places helpline is being inundated with a variety of technical queries. One mother reckoned she had already accumulated sufficient credit to have qualified for a full degree in worry.
And this is only the start of the process. Round 1 acceptances must be with the CAO by next Wednesday while Round 2 offers will be posted on September 6th.
Clinical speech and language studies at TCD
The announcement by TCD yesterday that applicants with at least 495 points would be called to interview for places on the clinical speech course provoked a storm of complaints on the helpline. Sixty applicants have been called to interview and there are 26 places.
The places are allocated on the basis of Leaving Certificate points. The interview simply ascertains whether students have a speech defect or language deficiency which might impair their ability to practise as a speech therapist.
Places are then offered to successful applicants in Round 2 of the CAO offers process. This means applicants should know by September 7th if they have secured a place.
Many of the 60 applicants who applied for speech therapy have already received an offer of a college place in Round 1. Some have accepted these offers and at least one student has already secured accommodation on the basis of this offer. This meant a significant financial investment and, unfortunately, her Round 1 offer was not in Dublin. If she gets a place in TCD, she will then have lost her accommodation deposit and will have to scramble for accommodation in Dublin.
TCD's admissions officer explains that the rationale for the Round 2 offer is purely a logistical one. Speech therapy is a very popular course, attracting high numbers of applicants.
This year, there were 550 applicants for speech therapy. To interview all of them would not have been possible, he says.
Meanwhile, UL offers places on its physical education with concurrent teacher education course in Round 2. Applicants above a certain level of points were called for a movement ability test. The college admissions office refused to release the cut-off points.
If you are hoping for a Round 2 offer, in clinical speech, PE or any other course, you should be aware that the acceptance or rejection of an offer in Round 1 does not affect your chances of receiving a higher-preference offer in Round 2.
Deferring
If you are thinking of deferring your college place it's time to act as deferred entry requests must arrive in the relevant college admissions office at least two days before the reply date of September 1st shown on the CAO offer notice. This means your request must be in by Monday, August 30th, at the latest.
Taking a year out allows students time to mature and also to accumulate some money to help finance their time in college. Most colleges look favourably on requests to defer places.
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. The RCSI will only consider deferral applications in exceptional circumstances. Tralee IT will not consider deferred entry for TL101 humanities (folk theatre studies) while UCD will not consider deferred entry requests for DN022 (modular arts) and DN023 (one subject on the modular arts). UCC will only consider applications for deferred entry for CK701 (medicine) and CK702 (dentistry) in exceptional circumstances.
If you wish to defer a place you should not accept the offer through the CAO but, instead, write immediately to the admissions office of the appropriate institution, setting out the reasons for the request. Mark "deferred entry" clearly on the envelope. Part C of the offer notice must be attached to the letter.
The college, not the CAO, will communicate the decision to the applicant. If the deferral is not granted, the offer may still be accepted for the current year.
See page four of the CAO handbook.
Vacant places
Yesterday, College Places carried a list of courses with places available through the CAO vacant-places procedure. Applicants for these courses must wait until Round 2 to find out if their application has been successful.
If you are interested in a place on any of the 25 degree and 70 certificate/ diploma courses, you must fulfil the minimum educational requirements, including any special subject requirements. Places will then be allocated on the usual points basis.
Lost your offer notice?
Each year, some applicants provide the CAO with a correspondence address and then blithely move on. The offer notice languishes in the hallway of a flat or house while the applicant frantically wonders what to do.
The CAO will issue a duplicate offer notice but time is now running out. The reply date for Round 1 is Wednesday, September 1st, at 5.15 p.m. So, you might have to consider a trip to the CAO, Tower House, Eglinton Street, Galway (Tel: (091) 509800).
Nursing
More than 1,000 applicants for nursing have received an offer of a place in a general or psychiatric nurse education programme. A further 450 applicants were told they were unsuccessful at interview while 580 were unsuccessful in achieving the academic requirements in the Leaving Certificate. The final group of 1,000 have received a letter stating they are on a reserve panel for possible later offers. This is the first year nursing offers have coincided with CAO Round 1 offers, making life somewhat easier for students juggling CAO and nursing offers.
If you are one of those who got an offer from the Nursing Careers Centre you have until next Tuesday (Aug 31st) to make up your mind as to whether you want to accept it or not.
You must tick one of four boxes in order to: accept the offer; accept it conditionally; reject it conditionally or reject it outright. If you accept conditionally, this means you are accepting the present offer but are still in the running for a higher preference. If you reject conditionally, this means you are turning down the present offer but are still in the running for a higher preference.
The Nursing Careers Centre will issue a second round of offers a few days after August 31st. If there are further vacancies these will be distributed in a third or, if necessary, fourth round of offers. The aim is to have the process completed by mid-September. The programme commences on September 28th.
In all, there are 821 first-year places available for new entrants to general nursing while there are 201 first-year places on psychiatric nursing programmes. Interest in general and psychiatric nurse programmes surged this year. The Nursing Careers Centre received more than 5,500 applications, an increase of 40 per cent on last year.
Places in mental handicap are being processed separately by the National Application Centre for Mental Handicap Nursing.
DIT's direct-entry courses
The closing date for the four new courses in DIT - computer science, computer engineering, technology (integrated maintenance) and manutronics (automation) - is August 31st.
The college reports a high level of interest and it is expected that offers will be made within a few days of the closing date. Places will be allocated on the basis of points. Applicants must fulfil the special subject requirements to be eligible for a place.
Students did not list these four courses in order of preference so they may be made multiple offers if they are eligible for places on a number of courses.
PLC vacancies:
Pearse College, Clogher Road, Crumlin, has some vacancies on the following PLC courses: architectural draughting with CAD, computing, media production skills, languages for tourism and business, holistic health, amenity horticulture, retail management, bar management, international trade, eco-business skills, Irish heritage, business and computer studies.
Eco-business skills prepares students to run a small business in an environmentally-friendly fashion or to seek employment in such businesses. The holistic health studies provides a foundation in areas such as yoga, body massage, reflexology and health store management.
Remember there are no tuition fees for PLC courses and students may apply for means-tested maintenance grants.
The college is also enrolling repeat Leaving Certificate students and taking applications for second-chance adult education courses. Tel: (01) 453-6661.