St Paul’s

1. St Paul’s CAO Application 2015

2. CAO Application & Process Course Research & Choice Restrictions DARE/ HEAR UCAS PLC Courses Q & A INTRODUCTION 2015

3. APPLICATION DATES & FEES All Fees are non-refundable

4. Honours Bachelor Degrees – Level 8 – HD Ordinary Bachelor Degrees – Level 7 – DG Higher Certificates – Level 6 - HC CAO Courses 2015

5. National Framework of Qualifications 47

6. Honours Bachelor Degrees- Level 8 (HD) CAO HANDBOOK page 47 2015

7. CAO HANDBOOK page 49 2015

8. APPLYING 2015

9. APPLICATION FORM Page 28

10. 2 APPLICATIONS IN 1

11. ONLINE APPLICATION • ON-LINE APPLICATION • Part 1 Apply • Part 2 Confirm & Log-in • Part 3 School & Exam Details • Part 4 Application – Courses, DARE, Grant, • Online Courses must first be submitted by 31st January • Final Course Decisions 1st July

12. CHOOSING COURSES • Guidance Interview • Internet Research • Careers Portal File -CAO Wizard • Family, friends, past pupils • Guest Speakers & Open Days

13. CHOOSING COURSES • Values • Interests • Personality • Skills • Aptitudes

14. If you learn nothing else from this presentation let it be this... PLACE YOUR COURSE CHOICES IN GENUINE ORDER OF PREFERENCE! To do otherwise is a grave mistake. ORDER OF PREFERENCE

15. Students will be offered a place in the highest of their course preferences to which they are entitled (if any). Students are automatically excluded from all lower preferences. Even if they have accepted their first offer they may subsequently be offered and accept a higher preference, if it becomes available. Round 1, 2…………Vacant places CAO Offer Process

16. POINTS System: INTERNET RESEARCH • CAREERSPORTAL • QUALIFAX • GUIDANCE ON THE GREEN • CAO • COURSE HUB • Calculated from ONE sitting of the Leaving Certificate. • SIX best subjects • Bonus points awarded for Honours Maths • (25 points for D3 and over) • Entry Requirements can be satisfied over more than one sitting of the LC (except for Medicine). • Some I.T.’s now accept and offer points for Foundation Level Maths for certain courses.

17. POINTS System: INTERNET RESEARCH : • CAREERSPORTAL • QUALIFAX • GUIDANCE ON THE GREEN • CAO • COURSE HUB • Certain courses are Restricted. They have early assessment procedures – which may start as early as February – and, therefore, must be mentioned in an application in time (i.e by the 1st Feb.). • Check the relevant prospectus for details. They will also be marked ‘restricted’ in your CAO handbook.

18. Minimum Entry Requirements: INTERNET RESEARCH Restricted-Application Courses: • CAREERSPORTAL • QUALIFAX • GUIDANCE ON THE GREEN • CAO • COURSE HUB • Students must meet Minimum Entry Requirements before they may be considered for entry to their chosen courses. • Consult prospectus for details and information before applying for any course. • Regardless of the points they achieve, they will not be accepted by a HEI if they do not meet their Minimum Entry Requirements. • Minimum Subject Requirements + Specific Subject Requirements. • Certain courses are Restricted. They have early assessment procedures – which may start as early as February – and, therefore, must be mentioned in an application in time (i.e by the 1st Feb.). • Check the relevant prospectus for details. They will also be marked ‘restricted’ in your CAO handbook.

19. INTERNET RESEARCH Restricted-Application Courses: • - NUI Colleges: UCD, UCC, Maynooth University, NUIG, RCSI, St. Angela’s College and Shannon College Require: • 2HC3 + 4OD3 - English, Irish, Maths & 3rd Language (Except Science, Engineering and Nursing) • - Trinity College • 3HC3 +3 OD3 – English, Maths & 2nd Language • - DCU • 2HC3 + 4OD3 – English or Irish, Maths • - I.T’s Level 8 = 2HC3 +4OD3 English or Irish, Maths • - I.T’s Level 6/7 = 5OD3English or Irish, Maths • CAREERSPORTAL • QUALIFAX • GUIDANCE ON THE GREEN • CAO • COURSE HUB • Certain courses are Restricted. They have early assessment procedures – which may start as early as February – and, therefore, must be mentioned in an application in time (i.e by the 1st Feb.). • Check the relevant prospectus for details. They will also be marked ‘restricted’ in your CAO handbook.

20. Specific Subject Requirements • Primary Teaching – HC3 in Irish • Engineering at Level 8) – HC3 Mathematics • Veterinary Medicine – HC3 Chemistry • Human Nutrition/Dietetics – HC3 Chemistry Restricted-Application Courses: INTERNET RESEARCH • CAREERSPORTAL • QUALIFAX • GUIDANCE ON THE GREEN • CAO • COURSE HUB • Certain courses are Restricted. They have early assessment procedures – which may start as early as February – and, therefore, must be mentioned in an application in time (i.e by the 1st Feb.). • Check the relevant prospectus for details. They will also be marked ‘restricted’ in your CAO handbook.

21. ORDER OF PREFERENCE

22. These are the applicants for CK101 Arts in UCC. The examination results have not yet been released, so these applicants are in no particular order.

23. INTERNET RESEARCH Restricted-Application Courses: • When examination results are released in August they are entered into the CAO computer. • For each course the applicant has applied for, the computer first determines if the applicant has the Minimum Entry Requirements for the course. • If the applicant meets the Minimum Entry Requirements for the course, the applicant’s points are calculated for this course choice. • All eligible applicants are then placed in a list, in order of academic merit, for each course that they applied for. • CAREERSPORTAL • QUALIFAX • GUIDANCE ON THE GREEN • CAO • COURSE HUB • Certain courses are Restricted. They have early assessment procedures – which may start as early as February – and, therefore, must be mentioned in an application in time (i.e by the 1st Feb.). • Check the relevant prospectus for details. They will also be marked ‘restricted’ in your CAO handbook.

24. Applicants are placed in a queue for each course they applied for, their position in the queue is determined by their points. The applicant with the highest points is placed at the top of the queue. The points achieved by the applicant in red determines her position in the queue for each course she applied to.

25. How places are allocated • The admissions officers of the Higher Education Institutions tell CAO how many places are to be offered on each course. • CAO then makes offers to the required number of applicants on each course starting with the applicant with the highest points and working down until enough places have been offered.

26. The applicants marked in green have enough points to be offered places. The applicant marked in red has enough points for her second preference.

27. Should some applicants decline to accept their offers these places become available in the next round of offers. They will be offered to the next applicants on the order of merit list. • This process continues until all the places on the course are filled or until all the eligible applicants on the order of merit list have been offered places. • Applicants can only be offered courses higher up on their CAO Course List

28. The applicant in red is offered her second preference, the highest preference course that she has enough points for, and she will now disappear from the queue in all her lower choices. Placing DN201 as her second preference meant that she would prefer to receive an offer on DN201 than on any other course except CK101 - which is her first preference.

29. Having been offered her second preference she must now decide to accept it or to do nothing. If she does not accept the offer the place will be offered to another applicant in the next round of offers. Regardless of whether she accepts or not she will still be considered for an offer on her first preference if a place becomes available. In the second round, one more offer was made on CK101 and our applicant is now at the top of the queue.

30. In the third round of offers two more offers are made on CK101 and our applicant, who was at the top of the queue, now receives an offer. She may do nothing and remain in DN201 or she may accept the offer and begin in CK101.

31. GENUINE ORDER Students do not need to guess what the points are going to be for the courses they are interested in. Simply list courses in Genuine Order of Preference from the highest preference 1, to the lowest preference 10. If students are entitled to an offer, they will be offered the highest preference that you are entitled to.

32. Applications must be made by February 1st. Consult CAO Handbook for full details. RESTRICTIONS

33. Restricted-Application Courses: INTERNET RESEARCH • CAREERSPORTAL • QUALIFAX • GUIDANCE ON THE GREEN • CAO • COURSE HUB • Certain courses are Restricted. They have early assessment procedures – which may start as early as February – and, therefore, must be mentioned in an application in time (i.e. by the 1st Feb.). • Check the relevant College prospectus and websites for details. They will also be marked ‘restricted’ in the CAO handbook.

34. INTERNET RESEARCH Restricted-Application Courses: • CAREERSPORTAL • QUALIFAX • GUIDANCE ON THE GREEN • CAO • COURSE HUB • To compete for entry to undergraduate medicine students must: • achieve a minimum of 480 points (2014 = 520) • meet the Minimum Entry Requirements and • sit the HPAT Ireland test. • Adjusted Leaving Cert. Scale – (Max. 565) • The points and the minimum entry requirements must be got in ONE sitting of the Leaving Cert. • The HPAT test results is valid for 1 year. • Certain courses are Restricted. They have early assessment procedures – which may start as early as February – and, therefore, must be mentioned in an application in time (i.e by the 1st Feb.). • Check the relevant prospectus for details. They will also be marked ‘restricted’ in your CAO handbook.

36. INTERNET RESEARCH HPAT-Ireland: Restricted-Application Courses: • CAREERSPORTAL • QUALIFAX • GUIDANCE ON THE GREEN • CAO • COURSE HUB • Health Professions Admission Test • (Max.300) (2014: 155 – 230) • Max 300 + 565 = Total Score Max. 865 • 2.5 hour Multiple Choice paper-based test. • Students must first apply to the CAO – www.cao.ie– to get their CAO number. • Then they must apply directly to ACER. This is done online - €120 and includes test papers. • Certain courses are Restricted. They have early assessment procedures – which may start as early as February – and, therefore, must be mentioned in an application in time (i.e by the 1st Feb.). • Check the relevant prospectus for details. They will also be marked ‘restricted’ in your CAO handbook.

37. ACCESS ROUTES DARE DISABILITY ACCESS ROUTE TO EDUCATION HEAR HIGHER EDUCATION ACCESS ROUTE 6,365 student have entered college via HEAR & DARE since 2010 ( 4111 H, 2254 D) 

38. DARE SCHEME DISABILITY ACCESS ROUTE TO EDUCATION

39. DARE – WHO IS IT FOR?? School leavers’ who have the ability to benefit from and succeed in higher education but who may not be able to meet the points for their preferred course due to the impact of their disability. Applicants who meet the Subject and Minimum Entry Requirements of the institutions to which they apply.

40. DARE – WHO IS IT FOR?? Asperger’s Syndrome Autism ADD/ADHD Vision impaired Hearing impaired Dyspraxia Specific Learning Difficulty (incl. Dyslexia) Mental Health Condition Neurological Conditions (incl. Brain injury, S&L) Ongoing Medical Condition Physical Disability Other Disabilities

41. DARE – Participating HEI’s UCC Cork IT UL NUI Galway St. Angela’s Sligo Athlone IT Mary Immaculate Maynooth University Pontifical Uni. Maynooth IT Sligo Dublin City University Dublin Institute of Technology National College of Ireland Trinity College Dublin Church of Ireland College of Ed. Marino Institute of Education UCD RCSI

42. DARE – HOW TO APPLY Apply to CAO by 1st February 2015 Complete the Supplementary Information Form on www.cao.ie by 1st March 2015 Submit completed Second Level Academic Reference to CAO by 1st April 2015. Submit Evidence of Disability documentation to CAO by 1st April 2015.

43. HEAR – WHO IS IT FOR? School leavers who have the ability to benefit from and succeed in higher education and who come from socio-economic groups in Irish society that are under-represented in third level. Students who also meet the minimum entry requirements and subject requirements of the HEIs their applying to.

44. HEAR SCHEME

45. CAO CHANGES PHARMACY MEDICINE/ HPAT – YEAR OF ENTRY COURSES CHANGED/ ADDED/ REMOVED ALERT LISTS

46. CAO SUMMARY Read all of the documents and instructions from CAO carefully. QUESTIONS???

47. UCAS Another option for students

48. Most Popular Degrees • Actuarial Sciences • Architecture • Children’s Nursing • Dentistry • Diagnostic Radiography • Dietetics • Medicine • Midwifery • Occupational Therapy • Optometry • PE Teaching • Physiotherapy • Primary Teaching • Psychology • Speech & Language Therapy • Therapeutic Radiography • Veterinary Medicine

49. Tariff Points versus L.C. Grades • Some universities use UCAS Tariff Points when making offers to Irish students, some use specific grades and some use a combination of two. • In general, whenever there is more demand for a course, the entry requirements will specify actual grades rather than UCAS Tariff Points.

50. UCAS Offers Colleges make offers depending on all or a combination of: • Junior Certificate results, • Predicted Leaving Certificate result, • Personal Statement • Academic Reference • For Example: L.C Grades (BBCCC) and/or Tariff Points (e.g. 260 Tariff Points)