CAO offers: 59% of students receive first preference degree course
Echo Bohane John The 07/06/2023
More than half of students (59%) have received their first preference degree course, despite another year of record high points, data released by the CAO on Wednesday shows.
Despite another year of record Leaving Cert results, which were boosted after initial marking to keep in line with the Class of 2022, points have dropped for more than half (52.4%) of Level 8 college courses.
Included in these courses are nursing, primary school teaching, and medicine, albeit some courses have recorded smaller decreases than others.
While no further grade inflation was recorded during 2023, and the overall results are at the same level as last year, the rate of grade inflation remains at 7% across the board.
Data from the CAO released this afternoon shows that points increased for roughly a third of Level 8 courses, while they remained the same for a further 11%.
Almost 58,000 CAO candidates today received 87,075 Round One offers of a college place.
This includes offers of 52,949 Level 8 course offers and 34,126 Level 7/6 course offers.
According to the CAO, 85% of students have this afternoon received an offer of a college place for one of their top three preferences for college courses.
This year, 14 courses have 'breached' the 600-point limit, which was crossed for the first time in 2019.
Random selection, which sees entry to a course determined by a lottery, has occurred at roughly 11 high-point courses. This is a decrease when compared to 2022 and 2021.
Among the courses that went to random selection this year is management science and information systems studies at Trinity College Dublin, which attracted first-round cut-off points of 625.
Entry to all three pharmacy courses, offered at Trinity, University College Cork and the RCSI, was determined this year by random selection.
When it comes to Level 7/6 offers, 90% issued today are for the student's first preference course, while the vast majority (99%) are for one of their top three preferences.
Students can check to see if they have received an offer by logging in to their account using the ‘My Application’ facility at www.cao.ie from 2pm.
Offers must be accepted by 3pm on Tuesday, September 5.
Head of Communications for CAO Eileen Keleghan advised students to carefully consider any offers received in this round.
“One of the common queries that we receive at the offers stage is around order of preference."
"Applicants who receive a lower preference offer can accept this offer, and it will not prevent them from receiving an offer of a course higher up on their courses list in a later round should a place become available and they are deemed eligible."
“Those who have received an offer in this round should also consider the current offer carefully as it may be the only one they will receive.
If an applicant has not received an offer they will receive a ‘Statement of Application’ email.
“It is important that applicants notify CAO immediately if there are any errors or omissions in their CAO account. They must make sure to do this as soon as possible to allow any corrections to be considered for subsequent rounds."
“Applicants with queries or examination updates should first view the ‘Have a Question’ page, and if they cannot find the answer to their question they can contact CAO by sending an email from the Correspondence Section of their CAO account,” she added.
Round Two offers will be available to view on the CAO website from 2pm on Monday, September 11.