College Choice: Business courses were the second most popular choice (after arts/social science) last year, with 19 per cent of applicants for degree courses placing a business course as their first preferences in the CAO.
At ordinary degree/certificate levels, business is by far the most popular choice, attracting 36 per cent of applicants.
Students have enormous choice in selecting a course, as there are more than 50 higher degree business courses on the CAO list. Points required for the more popular business degree courses are generally in the middle range - between 370 and 470 - although a few fall outside of these limits at both ends.
While business courses are popular, some students still make choices based on limited information or a misconception about what a business course entails.
Most business courses begin with a general foundation first year, usually involving five to seven subjects.
While there will be some variation from college to college, subjects like management, accounting, economics, IT, statistics, marketing and communications tend to form the basis of first year.
In general you do not need to have taken economics and accounting in your Leaving Certificate, but check carefully the requirements for each course.
Students sometimes select a business course specialising in marketing or human resource management on the assumption that they will not have to study accounting or economics, but this is not the case.
All good business qualifications have core courses in accounting and economics. Another core area is statistics, but you do not have to be an Einstein. The maths entry requirement varies a lot, from D3 on the ordinary paper for some courses to HC3 for more maths-based courses such as actuarial studies.
The main rule of thumb is that you do not need to be a mathematical genius for most, but, on the other hand, if you have to struggle with maths on the ordinary-level paper, perhaps a business degree is not the appropriate choice.
There are two types of business courses. The first are general business courses, such as BESS (TR081) in Trinity, business and management (DT 365) in DIT, business studies in UL (LM050) and DCU (DC111) and general business degrees in UCD (DN015), UCC (CK201), NUI Galway (GY201), Sligo IT (SG141) and Waterford IT (WD048).
These are broad-based courses that allow for some element of specialisation in the later years.
The second kind are those that specialise at an earlier stage. These include specialised accounting and finance degree courses in UCC, DIT, DCU and Carlow, Athlone and Dundalk ITs. Others are human resource management in NCI, retail and services management and transport and logistics in DIT, actuarial studies in UCD and DCU, and both finance and finance and venture management in Maynooth.
So if you are very clear on the aspect of business you wish to study, you may wish to select one of these. Or you may wish to keep your options open for the first year or two by selecting one of the general courses and then specialising later.
Another kind of specialised course is the language and business category. These usually involve less business than the previously discussed courses, in order to make room for intensive studies in one or two languages.
A key consideration here is the nature of the language study.
For example, if you select the BComm (international) in UCD with a language, you will take almost the full literature and language course as taught on a BA. This means you will study the poets and other writers of the language in question.
If you select DCU or DIT language and business degree programmes, the main language emphasis will be on the spoken and written language and business vocabulary and business culture. Again, check the precise details of each course. If selecting such a course, note the language entry requirement. In most cases it is a minimum of a HC3, and in some a higher standard.
Other factors worth considering is the availability of work placements and Erasmus exchange.
Work placement was pioneered by UL, but other institutions, which now have it either as an option or an intrinsic part of their programmes, include DCU and DIT.
It is an invaluable learning experience and many students get their first job in the organisation where they did their placement. Good work placements always involve fair remuneration and a well- monitored placement organised by the college.
In an Erasmus exchange, you attend part of your course - usually in year three - in a college in Europe.
On language programmes, students must spend a year abroad in the country of their main foreign language choice. Other courses offer it as an option. DIT has pioneered English language Erasmus on its general business programme, business and management and in its marketing degree. It places students in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, France and Germany in institutions where English is the language of instruction.
Many colleges have developed exchange links with the US and Canada - e.g., UCD, DIT and DCU - which offer European business (transatlantic studies) programmes. The student spends 2½ years in Ireland and 1½ years abroad, for example in Boston. Normally there is no tuition fee involved in exchange programmes.
All of the above courses are level eight - honours degrees - and the points requirements can be quite high, ranging in the high 400s. For this reason there is a strong market for business degrees at somewhat lower points requirements through the private, fee-paying colleges.
Portobello College, for example, offers degrees in business studies, accounting and finance, and marketing.
A similar range of programmes is available in Dublin Business School and Griffith College.
In addition to all of the above, there are the level six and seven higher certificate programmes and ordinary degrees in all the IT's.
These are very good practical programmes, providing exciting employment opportunities or transfer to an honours degree programme if you get the required grade in your final exams. This means an average of 60 per cent or over.
UCD has recently introduced a diploma programme (foundations of business) for mature students. Successful completion of this two-year, full-time course will give entry to second year of the BComm.
Employment prospects are exceptionally good for business graduates, particularly those who have done a work placement. About 20 per cent of students go on to postgraduate study, i.e. master's degrees.
The key criterion for admission to postgraduate courses is not where you have done your degree but the quality of your grades.
Most good postgraduate courses require what is called a second-class honours grade-one degree.
Brian Mooney's column on CAO options will appear each weekday in the run-up to the deadline at the end of this month.
