There are 41,148 students now holding offers from the CAO's certificate/diploma list. Many of these are asking themselves whether they should accept the offer or reject it in the hope of getting a degree offer in further rounds.
The degree still appears to be the most desirable unit of third-level currency. Often students will have filled out the cert/diploma list on the urging of their guidance counsellor or parents. They remain unconvinced as to the value of a certificate or diploma and would rather repeat their Leaving Cert than go to a regional technical college or an institute of technology.
Guidance counsellors urge students not to reject the certificate and diploma offer out of hand.
Accepting or rejecting a first-round offer does not affect your chances of getting an offer in the second round. Remember, you may move up the list of preferences, but not down.
Would-be degree-holders who reject certificates and diplomas as unworthy are in fact writing off that growing phenomenon - the add-on degree. These one- or two-year courses allow diploma students to progress to degree level if desired. Theses courses are not listed in the CAO handbook. You must go to the college prospectuses to discover the full possibilities these courses open for you.
Of course, certificates and diplomas are also valid qualifications in their own right.
To progress up the ladder from certificate to diploma to degree, students must obtain certain exam grades. A merit is the usual requirement for entry to an add-on diploma, but students with a pass may do a year's work experience as a qualifier. Some colleges may be more flexible and accept a pass alone.
Students who want to progress from a diploma to an add-on degree must achieve a merit in their exams. Some courses also require students to take bridging exams.
Some routes to a degree require four years of study and others five. The usual way is via a two-year certificate to a one-year diploma to a two-year add-on degree. The free fees scheme applies throughout the four or five years and students are also eligible for maintenance grants.
The advantage of taking the longer route is the built-in flexibility which allows students to leave after two or three years with a qualification. A lot of students reach their full potential later and therefore benefit from the longer route.
The following is a list of add-on degrees available in the regional technical colleges and Waterford Institute of Technology. Most DIT courses are complete in themselves and do not follow the ladder system (check the college prospectus for details).
RTC Athlone: B.Sc in applied chemistry; B.Sc in toxicology; bachelor of business Studies; tourism and hospitality management; B.Eng in software engineering; BA in accounting and finance.
The college has a transfer arrangement with the Camborne School of Mines, Cornwall, England, and the University of Portsmouth, England, for graduates of the mineral engineering diploma.
RTC Carlow: B.Sc in industrial biology; B.Sc in software engineering; bachelor of technology in production technology; BBS in services marketing are available.
There are formal transfer arrangements between Carlow RTC and Essex University, England, for the B.Sc in physical opto-electronics and the B.Sc in environmental and industrial chemistry.
RTC Cork: BA degrees in fine art and in applied social studies; B.Sc in biomedical science offered in conjunction with UCC; B.Sc in analytical chemistry with quality assurance; B.Sc in applied physics and instrumentation; B.Eng in structural engineering; Bachelor of Design in ceramics.
RTC Dundalk: It is possible to advance from any of the college's four business studies certificates through a diploma to a one-year add-on BBS.
B.Sc in commercial computing; B.Sc in building surveying; B. Eng in product design.
Galway RTC: Students who have completed the diploma in business studies must take some bridging exams to be eligible for the BBS programme; B.Sc in furniture technology; B.Sc in software development; B. Eng in digital and software engineering. A new add-on degree in computing in business applications is now on offer.
Letterkenny RTC: Students who have completed any one of a number of business-related diploma and certs can apply for a degree in business studies. A new add-on degree option in applied computing is now on offer.
Limerick RTC: Add-on degrees in graphics, fashion, ceramics, fine art (painting, print-making and sculpture), and design; B.Sc in information systems. Holders of some diplomas may be able to transfer to the college's B.Sc in chartered surveying (quantity surveying, valuation surveying, and building engineering and management). A new add-on post-graduate diploma in art and design teaching is now on offer.
Sligo RTC: BBS (marketing and accounting options); B.Sc in computing; BA in applied social care; holders of national diplomas in engineering, science or technology may apply for a B.Sc in quality assurance; Bachelor of Engineering; B.Sc in environmental science or environmental chemistry. Those with the college's national diploma in science (analytical chemistry or pollution assessment and control) can apply for transfer to the final year of the B.Sc in applied biology or applied chemistry in the University of Coventry, England.
Similarly, graduates of the national diploma in pharmaceutical science may transfer to the B.Sc in pharmaceutical science in Coventry.
There is a new add-on degree this year - a B.Sc in occupational safety and health. Two further one-year add-on degree options are expected to be on offer from September 1998 - B.Eng in product design and development and a bachelor of arts in fine art.
Tallaght RTC: BBS with marketing and languages with options in German and French; two other business degrees with options in management and accounting; B.Sc in computing (information technology); manufacturing engineering; the follow-on options in science will be in applied chemistry and also in applied biology.
Tralee RTC: BBS in business studies in marketing or accounting; BA in information systems management; B.SC in computing. There is a transfer arrangement with UL for students who pass the advanced certificate in business studies.
WIT: BA degrees in the following options: business and financial studies; recreation and leisure; applied social studies in social care; legal and business studies; applied languages.
There are B.Sc degrees in chemistry and quality management, commercial software development and applied biology with quality management. A bachelor of technology in computer-aided manufacturing is open to those who have completed one of the engineering degrees.
There is a new add-on BA in financial services on offer this year.
RTC Tallaght update
RTC Tallaght says some applicants who met the stated requirements and achieved the necessary points for the audio-visual communications course, TA104, were not offered a place. The English requirement of a higher-level C3 was incorrectly applied. Tallaght RTC has instructed the CAO to offer places immediately to all eligible candidates at or above the cut-off of 435 points.
Additional reporting by Catherine Foley