Sir, – It appears to me that prospective entrants to third-level education are invited to shop (apply for places) when they do not know how much money they have to spend (in the currency of Leaving Certificate points). Then for a week or so there is a nasty twist in the tail when students discover what points they have but not what programmes require, other than via often irrelevant historical guidelines.
The simple expedient of co-distribution of Leaving Certificate results with CAO offers would streamline communications with students and avoid what appears to be a period of gross uncertainty. Of course, such a step would have an impact on newspaper sales as the national hullaballoo and associated stress would be substantially reduced both in intensity and duration. – Yours, etc,