Thousands of Leaving Cert students passed through the RDS in Dublin yesterday on fact-finding assignments about the third-level opportunities available to them.
On the first morning of the three-day Higher Options conference, organised by The Irish Times in conjunction with the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, brightly coloured stands representing various colleges greeted students.
A national course database was positioned just inside the main hall and students could enter the course in which they were interested to discover their options.
More than 170 Irish universities, institutes of technology (IT) and further education (FE) colleges, as well as education institutes from England, Scotland and Wales participated. Some 25,000 students, guidance counsellors, mature students and parents are expected to attend by tomorrow.
"I don't want to go leave Ireland to study," said Darragh O'Flerty (18), a sixth-year student from Coláiste Lorcain in Kildare. "I think I might like to study culinary arts."
A Garda Síochána display seemed to maintain a continuous crowd of students mulling around it yesterday, many perhaps drawn by the Garda motorcycle on display. "I suppose people rarely get to see one up close," said Garda press officer Lynne Nolan. "They usually just whizz past people in traffic."
However it was the Defence Forces who put on the most elaborate display, with life-size tanks, helicopters, machine guns and replica rocket launchers. Crowds - mainly boys - queued to handle machine guns and other Army machinery.
In contrast, the lecture on working in holistic therapies predominantly attracted girls. Séamus Connolly told them: "If you want to just make money, don't choose this . . . It's a vocation more than a job."
Other talks scheduled included working in journalism, law, engineering and nursing.
In the RDS concert hall, lectures advised students on how to choose the right college course.
Speaking about the option of FE colleges as a stepping stone to universities and ITs was the guidance counsellor from Ballyfermot College of Further Education, Julie Murphy. "Every year you spend in education after school can add 15 per cent to your earning power," she said.
Taking time out from the hustle and bustle in the RDS were sixth-year students Belinda O'Connor (16) and Anita McMahon (16), both from Warrenmount secondary school in Dublin 8. Anita had been bitterly disappointed about a course for which she had intended applying.
"I had my heart set on beauty therapy in one of the PLC colleges," she said, "but I found out today that you need to do biology and home economics in your Leaving Cert, and I didn't choose either of them. Now I'll have to review my options."
This evening, lectures of special interest to parents and mature students will take place and will look at the financial implications of going to college.
Numerous educational institutions from England, Scotland and Wales were represented at the conference yesterday.
Making an inquiry about a media performance course at the University of Luton stand was sixth-year student Sam McArdle (17) from St Mary's in Rathmines.
"A similar course is 510 points at Trinity College so that's why I'm looking around," he said. "I think today has been brilliant."