The best advice to any student starting the process is to not underestimate how much time it’ll take to gather the required documents and details.

With it usually taking a bit longer than you might expect, candidates are always advised to begin well in advance of February 1.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit any of the supporting documents well in advance of any deadlines, as these closing dates are all agreed between the CAO and the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).

With all this in mind, there’s really no reason to delay if you haven’t already begun the process.

Students are advised to allow good time to research their course choices well, and to check for matriculation and minimum entry requirements.

Keep in mind, students who do not meet the minimum entry requirements of a course will not receive an offer of a place.

Vital handbook

The CAO handbook, available from the CAO website, goes through the important steps of the application process in good detail.

It’s strongly recommended students read this document in its entirety, making a note of each of the upcoming, crucial deadlines in the months ahead.

In the Further Education, Training and Apprenticeships section of the CAO website, you will find more information on Level 5s, Level 6s, and Level 7s, as well as apprenticeship options.

The CAO website also has plenty of video guides and demos that take you through the application process from start to finish.

When it comes time to begin the CAO application process, students will need to register on the system to get their CAO application number.

They will be asked to submit their personal details, select the relevant qualifications and assessments section, and pay the application fee.

It is absolutely crucial that a valid email address is submitted correctly at this stage, as an incorrect or inaccessible account could cause major problems down the line.

Submitting the wrong email could lead to a student missing out on important correspondence.

It’s also vital to double check that all personal information is submitted correctly here.

To log into the CAO account, date of birth, application number, and password are all required.

Students are also asked to begin this application process at least two days in advance of any final deadlines.

Putting off registration until the last minute doesn’t leave much time to deal with unforeseen circumstances such as getting locked out of your account or a payment failing to process.

When inputting names, candidates should remember to enter it as it appears on their birth certificate or passport. HEIs will require proof of ID at registration if a candidate hopes to register under a different name.

Once registered, CAO candidates will receive their CAO application number, used in all communications with the CAO and to log on to the CAO account.

In the ‘My Application’ facility, students will be asked to provide additional details of their qualifications and assessments.

To add your course choices, log in to the My Application facility and click on 'Add Level 8 course choices' or 'Add Level 7/6 course choices'.

Here candidates can add, edit their course choices, in “genuine order of preference".

This is because at the offer stage, applicants will receive an offer of the course highest up on their list.

You should enter your course choices sooner rather than later but applicants can log in to remove, add, or change their courses as many times as they like up to February 1, for no extra charge.

Registration deadline

Remember that you must have registered by February 1 to apply for restricted courses, which require additional assessment procedures, such as a portfolio, assessment, or interview.

Restricted courses can also be added to your application using the Change of Course Choices facility for a fee of €10 before 1 March at 5:15 pm.

After applying, students are advised to log in to their CAO account regularly to verify all their information has been input correctly.

Students are also recommended to check the ‘Correspondence’ section of their account regularly for new emails from the CAO containing important information.

Applicants are also strongly advised to double-check their statement of application record when it is sent out to everyone in May.

You must check all your personal, examination, exemption, and course choices is recorded correctly, and please take particular care to check your Leaving Certificate exam number is correct.

Failure to do so can result in missing out on a place at the relevant Offer Round.

'Change of mind' facility

The ‘change of mind’ facility is also expected to open in May, closing at the beginning of July, which can be used to add, remove or rearrange courses for no extra charge.

Restrictions do apply to certain courses.

Final deadlines around offers have yet to be finalised for 2023 as they will rely on when the Leaving Certificate results are issued to students and these dates have yet to be confirmed.

Round A offers are due to be issued in July, Round 0 offers go to candidates usually in early August.

Round 1 offers typically are available from mid to late August, but more information will be available at www.cao.ie.

Any student who wishes to apply to the CAO using the paper application form should contact the CAO well in advance of the closing date and a copy of the paper application will be posted to you.

The application fee is €45 for paper applications received by February 1, or €90 for paper applications received after February 1 deadline and before May 1 at 5pm.

What to keep in mind in applying to the CAO

Students beginning the CAO process may be asking themselves one very good question — ‘How am I meant to decide now what I want my career to be?’ It’s an annual dilemma, and one many will be familiar with. Finishing school and taking your first steps into the world is exciting, but it’s also undeniably stressful.

It’s even worse when you don’t know where to begin, and it can make the CAO process incredibly daunting.

Thankfully, there are a few simple tricks to help get the ball rolling, and it’s worth setting aside an hour or two now to focus on them.

This is because the months ahead are likely to fly for students, between orals, preps, and revision.

With this in mind, students will thank themselves later if they dedicate time now to brainstorming the process before the term really starts to unfold.

A good place when you don’t know where to start is to bring it back to basics. Think carefully about what kind of job one day you’d like. If that’s even too big a question to answer, break this down even further.

Ask yourself what you’d like your life to look like one day; Are you passionate about working with people, or would you prefer to work on your own? Would you be more at home in a laboratory or a library?

Are holidays and keeping to regular hours important to you, or do you love the thrill of a deadline?

Think long and hard about your interests, your dislikes, and what you’d like your days to look like. Think about the subjects in school you like, and why you like them.

Take notes about what you like about each subject, and then compare with prospective courses. Maybe you have some work experience already; Note down what you liked about it, and what you didn’t.

A pattern will start to emerge. Careersportal.ie also has some really good assessment tools – Use these but answer honestly.

Next, begin to research the different courses. If you can, speak to as many people who’ve completed the course you are interested in. Look at Level 8s, but also Level 6/7s.

Think about what you’d find important in a course; Do you want larger lectures, group work, placement, Erasmus opportunities? Don’t be shy about reaching out to course directors directly if you have any questions.

When it’s time to fill out your CAO, list your courses based on your own preferences. Don’t include a course you don’t find interesting, or list anything higher than the one you really want. Make sure to include Level 6/7 courses, and also to have a backup plan should anything unexpected pop up.

Keep in mind that you do have the option to change your mind later in the year, albeit with some restrictions applying.