Central Applications Office (CAO)

Purpose of the CAO CAO process applications to undergraduate courses in 3rd level colleges. CAO issue course offers and record acceptances. Assessment of applications and decisions on admissions are made by the Admissions Officers in the colleges not by CAO.

Timely Action In order to be fair to all applicants, closing dates are strict and therefore action should be taken in good time. Do not leave everything to the last minute

CAO Timetable Early Nov – Mid January Closing date for receipt of early online applications; normally €25 1st February Closing date for receipt of normal applications; normally €40 Early February to Early March Courses may be changed online including ‘restricted’, normally €10 Early March Closing date for final completion of online HEAR/DARE forms

Latest date for HEAR/DARE supporting documents to arrive to CAO Early April Latest date for HEAR/DARE supporting documents to arrive to CAO Early May to Early July Online change of mind facility becomes available (free) Mid August First round of offers will commence

Courses in the CAO System There are two course choice lists and applicants may make up to ten course choices on each list. The courses are clearly labelled in the CAO Handbook. N.B. – Care must be taken with courses marked ‘Restricted’. These courses cannot normally be applied for after February 1st due to early assessments. Level 6 &/or 7 courses Level 8 courses Ordinary Degrees (7) Higher Certificates (6) Honours Degrees (8) Up to 10 course choices

Two Applications on One Form It is possible that a student will receive an offer on both lists. They may then decide to accept either the Level 7/6 or Level 8 offer.

Making an Application Apply online www.cao.ie It is a very straight forward application Access Demo facility in Student Resources Always keep proof of sending application: print or save screen receipt Fill out both course lists in Genuine Order of Preference Do not include courses on the basis of your predictions of next years cut off points or your own points scores

How Places are allocated These are the applicants for CK101 Arts in UCC

How Places are Allocated Students are placed in a queue for each course they applied for, their position in the queue is determined by their points. The student with the highest points is placed at the top of the queue. The points achieved by the student in red determines his position in the queue for each course he applied to.

How Places are Allocated The students marked in green have enough points to be offered places. The student marked in red has enough points for his second preference.

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

Having been offered his second preference he must now decide to accept it or to do nothing. If he does not accept the offer the place will be offered to another applicant in the next round of offers. Regardless of whether he accepts or not he will still be considered for an offer on his 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.

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. He may do nothing and remain in DN201 or he may accept the offer and begin CK101.

Genuine Order of Preference You do not need to guess what the points are going to be for the courses you are interested in. Simply list your courses in genuine order of preference from the highest preference 1, to the lowest preference 10. If you are entitled to an offer, you will be offered the highest preference that you are entitled to.

Communicating with CAO The easiest and most efficient way to communicate with CAO is by using the 'Contact Us' facility on the CAO website If you post something to CAO, always obtain a certificate of posting at the post office.

The Offer Process In the week following the release of the LC results CAO will post a communication to all applicants. If you are entitled to an offer, you will be sent an offer notice. Offers will also be available on the CAO website. You may check for and accept offers on the website. In fact, most applicants now record acceptances online.

The Offer Process Your offer notice may contain an offer for a Level 8 course or a Level 7/6 course or both. If you receive two offers at the same time you may only accept one of them. If you wish to accept an offer of a place you must carry out the instructions on the offer notice.

Deferring If you want to defer your course place you must immediately contact the admissions office of the college in question and request permission to defer until the following year, outlining your reasons. You do not need to contact the CAO as the college will do that on your behalf. The most likely scenario is that the college will allow you to defer.