Points for most courses, except those linked to economic recovery, fall or stay the same
The points needed for two-thirds of college courses are unchanged or down on last year as more than 52,000 people receive offers for third-level study this morning.
Points are up for one-third of the more than 870 level 8 (honours) degrees, which generally require much higher Leaving Certificate results than those from levels 6 or 7 course lists.
But the points remain the same for one-in-four, and have fallen on last year’s Round 1 cut-off standards for nearly 40% of level 8 degrees.
Last year, students needed more points for nearly half of all level 8 courses.
However, there are exceptions in some course categories where expanded places in colleges and the slightly weaker exam results than last were not enough to counter the increased level of interest from students.
Close to half of 140 engineering and technology degrees, for example, command higher points than in 2015, and points are down for just one-third of them.
University College Cork’s engineering degree has shot up 75 points to 490, attributed by admissions staff to a 50% rise in numbers listing it as their first preference.
The minimum CAO points for most of the main university arts degrees are the same as last year or down, by as much as 20 points at Maynooth University due to increased intake and the inclusion of some other humanities degrees into its main BA entry route.
The one exception is at UCC where arts is up five points to 355 this year.
With around 230 of the 600 university CAO degree courses at Trinity College Dublin, entrants to some of its arts degrees still have to have near-perfect Leaving Certificate results.
At the other end of the scale, the vast majority of the 460 ordinary degree and higher certificate (levels 7 and 6, respectively) courses offering places this morning, are accepting students with 300 CAO points or less. That is the equivalent of D2s in six higher level Leaving Certificate subjects, or six ordinary level A2s for entry to these courses, mostly run by the 14 institutes of technology.
Points are up for just over one-third of all level 8 business courses, and down for close to 40%, as colleges have responded to rising demand with plans to increase intake to these programmes.
More than 52,000 applicants to the CAO will get their first round offers this morning.
Applicants can check to see if they have been offered a course at cao.ie from 6am.
Courses including Architecture and Engineering have seen some rises in points due to renewed interest in the Construction sector.
Business has also seen a rise in points, while Nursing has gone up in five colleges.
After a nervous wait, thousands of Leaving Cert and mature applicants will find out if they have achieved their first choice this morning.
The Central Applications Office is this morning issuing more than 75,000 round one offers - consisting of 41,000 level 8 courses and 34,000 level 7 and 6 courses.
If applicants accept a course, this does not prevent them from being offered a higher choice in a later round.
In addition, there are also other options available if applicants are not happy with their offer;
If a student gets two offers; one level 8 and one level 7 or 6, they must choose one.
Students have until 5.15pm on August 29 to accept Round One offers, or the offer will lapse.
