* CAO - a few important points ... * !Change of Mind CLOSES Friday 1st July at 17.15!

Objectionable or objective, Eoghan?

rainbowtrout wrote: »

... "if I ring the CAO/NUIG and beg will they let me in?" The answer to that in advance is NO. They do not make exceptions.

They may, however, dispatch a hit-team to beat her / him round the head with the handbook which s/he didn't bother reading!!

thelad95 wrote: »

This is spot on but one could argue that whoever has it higher on there preference list could be used as a tie-breaker. Take for example, a 300 point course in Letterkenny IT. Student A was aiming for 400 points, but has a massively disappointing LC and has Letterkenny down as his 10th choice. Student B had his heart set on the Letterkenny course and has it down as his 1st choice. Both students get 300 points, does Student B deserve it more?

I take your point in the particular instance you give, thelad, but, apart from the fact that it would take a hellish amount of programming even to make the computers do that, and the more complicated the programming the more likely that there will be glitches (and it's complex enough already!), the reality is that it's pretty easy to come up with examples which yield a totally different subjective result.

Let's try one:

Tom lives in Galway, and has art in NCAD as his number 1. This is what he really wants to do, but while he is very bright and also talented at art, he is also as lazy as sin. To shut his mother up, he puts medicine in Galway as number 2, even though he has no interest whatsoever in medicine; for the same reason he also does the HPAT and scores quite well on it.

Tom, as expected, gets a very good LC without working all that hard at it. However, he puts very little effort into his portfolio for NCAD, expecting to walk it on his innate talent alone, and to his horror does not qualify for NCAD. However, his combined LC points and HPAT put him in with a decent chance for NUIG medicine, his second choice which he does not want.

Emma lives in Dublin. She has always wanted to do medicine, knows there is nothing else she wants to do, and has worked her fingers to the bone studying for LC to get the course she wants.

As she lives in Dublin, her preferences are:

1) TCD medicine

2) UCD medicine

3) UCC medicine (as her aunt lives in Cork)

4) NUIG medicine

She does a good but not brilliant HPAT, and a good LC, but when her HPAT and LC points are added, she has exactly the same score as Tom.


As it happens, when the Galway places are being allocated, it reaches the point where there is one place left, and Tom and Emma, with equal points, are the only 2 candidates.

Knowing what we know about the two candidates, and using the type of subjective reasoning you are using above, who "deserves" the place more: Tom who has it as his second preference, or Emma for whom it is her fourth preference?


(And what other useful lesson could we learn from this imaginary example about how to fill in your CAO choices? :pac:)

Dunkelhouse wrote: »

It is possible to apply to the CAO while at College?

Yes it is.

For a more detailed answer, read this!

Chicharito11 wrote: »

This is what it says for my entry requirements to my course:

-2HC3 & 4OD3, passes in English & Irish & a third language, OC3/ HD3 Mathematics

Foundation level Mathematics is accepted for Matriculation, but does not meet the requirement for degrees where Mathematics is a special programme requirement.


Now, does this mean I have to do OL Maths and get a C3, or can I just do foundation and I will qualify? Because it says that it qualifies matriculation.

To qualify for a course in a university you need three things:

1) Entry requirements for the university (Matriculation). Foundation will do you here, from the piece you quoted.

2) The specific course requirements: for your course this is at least a C3 at OL; Foundation will not suffice. That's what they mean by Foundation "not meeting the requirement for degrees where Maths is a special programme requirement". It is a special programme requirement in this case, and they specify minimum OC3.

3) The points.

In your case, if you only have Foundation, the CAO computer will pass you through Gate Number 1, but stop you dead at Gate Number 2. Do not pass Go, do not collect €200.

Even if you have 100 points over and above, it won't matter; the computer will never move on to checking your points for that course because with Foundation you don't satisfy number 2 - the specific course minimum requirements.