CAO Offers And What To Do Next

You filled out the CAO application. You sat the State Exams. You’ve got your results. It’s 1.59pm on August 30th 2023. The agonising wait is almost over: Here are a couple of points to keep in mind as you wait for the opening of the portal to your offer and your future...

1. The First Round of offers are released at 30th August at 2pm. It is important to remember that you need to reply by 5th September at 3pm.

2. If you received your first choice on your CAO application, congratulations! You just need to accept the offer by the deadline. You will not be offered any courses lower down on the list of order of preference.

3. If you have completed the Level 8 and Level 6/7 course lists, you can potentially be offered a course from both lists. However, you can only accept one offer per round.

4. If you didn’t get your first choice and you were offered a course further down in your order of preference, consider this offer carefully. There is a chance you might not be offered anything in later rounds so rejecting this offer might leave you with no course from CAO.

5. If you accept an offer lower down on your order of preference, it will not stop you receiving an offer higher up your order of preference list (providing you meet all the requirements for the course and the college.)

6. Round Two offers are released on 11th September at 14.00 with a reply date of 13th September at 3pm.

7. You could potentially be offered a place on a CAO course up to 3rd October at 10am. This is the date for the Round Five offers.

8. Because offers are still made up until 3rd October, it is important that you continue to check the email you used on your CAO application until this date.

9. It is so important that you don’t take a course that you already know you’re not going to enjoy or want to do. (Hopefully you won’t have put any of those on your CAO!)

10. If you received the points for the course but didn’t receive an offer, go onto your CAO application and make sure your results are correct. If your results are correct and you still didn’t receive an offer, it could be that you didn’t meet the entry requirements of the course or the college. Click on the link below to find the relevant Higher Education Body to confirm this with.

11. Available Places are places on courses that have not been filled after the list of applicants has been exhausted. This might be an option for you depending on your interests. Current applicants to the CAO can make an application to Available Places for free.

12. If the CAO route, doesn’t work out for you, there are other options. Have a look at what PLC courses there are for you. Some courses might not be full so if you contact the colleges of further education, they will be able to advise you on this. You can always reapply to CAO next year but with your PLC results. This can often be a good route to take to ensure you really want to commit to studying a four-year degree in a specific area.

13. Another option is to do an apprenticeship. An apprenticeship is an excellent way to earn a salary while gaining valuable skills and work experience. Many apprenticeships are still taking applications to start this academic year. Have a look at the link below to figure out your options.

If you are still unsure about what to do next, please get in touch. Remember, there are so many options out there now and the CAO is just one route to your desired career.

If you are still unsure about what to do next, please get in touch to book an appointment with our career guidance specialist!

Good Luck!

info@educatingeire.ie

https://www.cao.ie/index.php?page=contact (https://www.cao.ie/index.php?page=contact) Any CAO queries, here are their contact details.

https://www.cao.ie/index.php?page=hei (https://www.cao.ie/index.php?page=hei) Higher Education Institutes list. Use these contact details to check that entry requirements have been met.

https://careersportal.ie/courses/simple_search.php?default=1&txt=&cols_in= (https://careersportal.ie/courses/simple_search.php?default=1&txt=&cols_in=)

(Remember to click on “PLC” filter when searching for PLC courses)

https://apprenticeship.ie/career-seekers/introduction (https://apprenticeship.ie/career-seekers/introduction)