Nostalgic for the old 'CAO Offers' threads

gerbilgranny

I first encountered the CAO Offers thread in 2008, when, much to our surprise, an offspring of ours got an offer. (They lasted 2 years of the 4 year course, and went on to do another level 8 in a private college, and then ended up in a job that required no third level qualification...a learning curve for us all).

And the following year, the second offspring was part of the CAO circus - this one took a less scenic route, and stayed the 4 years in UCD.

But by then I'd become engrossed in the posts of the poor unfortunates who waited for their Leaving Cert results, and then their offers. The excitement when someone would say they had a cousin who had a garage in Granard and they'd have access to the papers by 4am....gosh, it was dramatic.

The CAO is a brutal system, though I don't know how it can be fixed. But it's clear that the days of those dramatic threads and posts have passed. I hope all who contributed found what they wanted, being via the scenic route or not.

randylonghorn

Aye, lots of nerves, chat, bad jokes, outright panic and excitement ... and relief and joy for most when someone got their hands on the papers, and the odd poor sod in the doldrums!

Never minded those genuinely panicking, no matter how cranky or impatient they got at times, it was very understandable ... the occasional brainless wonder diving in to announce that "Arts in UCD had gone up 20 points!!" because they thought they were soooo funny had me wishing for Harry Potter's magic wand though, and believe me some very creative hexes came to mind!

And yes, the CAO system can be somewhat unforgiving, even cruel at times, but it's dispassionate and equally unforgiving to all. Nobody gets a place in their preferred college because their Da bunged a nice donation into the new library, or because he plays golf with the Admissions Officer, or was in the same fraternity as the President. In my experience, there is no perfect system for admission to third-level; they all have their advantages and disadvantages, and I honestly think ours is far from the worst out there.

The biggest problem, perhaps, is the underlying idea that "everything depends on the points / college offer", and that's an attitude which society, the media, etc. has created, not the CAO itself .... and as you've discovered for yourself, it's a very simplistic and often inaccurate attitude.