Record number of CAO applications / likely effect on points

From RTE News -> link

A record number of applications for third level places have been received by the CAO this year.

The 10% rise in applications - to over 71,000 - means that there will be almost two candidates for every college and university place.

The Institute of Guidance Counsellors has attributed the increase to the unemployment crisis, with students opting for third level, instead of apprenticeships or a highly competitive workplace.
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Unprecedented numbers of mature students are also applying for places.

(emphasis added)

So, looks like competition will be fierce this year...so much for 'education is the best place to be during a recession', eh?

bnt

According to the Irish Times report, there are 15,000 mature applicants (age 23+). I'm waiting for another rant against mature students like the one the one they printed a couple of weeks ago. :pac:

bnt

bnt wrote: »

According to the Irish Times report, there are 15,000 mature applicants (age 23+). I'm waiting for another rant against mature students like the one the one they printed a couple of weeks ago. :pac:

Wow, I appreciate it was meant to be somewhat ironic, but everyone should have a right to an education if they want it. It's going to be really tough points wise this year (why oh why do I have to want to do Medicine?) but I wouldn't begrudge people for wanting to better themselves academically and for wanting better prospects.

Making It Bad

This may sound a bit blunt but let's face it, points for already high point courses like medicine aren't going to go up. The 10% rise is due to people who would have before not bothered with furthering their education when times were good. They will be mostly made up of people with <300 points who will be applying to do further certificates, level 6 kinda courses and so on.

The kind of people who apply for things like medicine would still be applying for it even if there was no recession. Points for courses <350 I can see rising but only those courses.

Oh, and ****ing mature students! I kid, I kid

cruizer101

Applications are up this year by about 10%, means points will probably be higher. Apparently there is two students for every college place.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0202/cao.html

Making It Bad

Making It Bad wrote: »

This may sound a bit blunt but let's face it, points for already high point courses like medicine aren't going to go up. The 10% rise is due to people who would have before not bothered with furthering their education when times were good. They will be mostly made up of people with <300 points who will be applying to do further certificates, level 6 kinda courses and so on.

The kind of people who apply for things like medicine would still be applying for it even if there was no recession. Points for courses <350 I can see rising but only those courses.

Oh, and ****ing mature students! I kid, I kid

That's what I was thinking, especially with the HPAT it seems like it'd be pretty difficult for points to rise for Med drastically. That makes me feel a bit better, I don't suddenly need to get 600 points. Phew.

**Timbuk2**

Making It Bad wrote: »

This may sound a bit blunt but let's face it, points for already high point courses like medicine aren't going to go up. The 10% rise is due to people who would have before not bothered with furthering their education when times were good. They will be mostly made up of people with <300 points who will be applying to do further certificates, level 6 kinda courses and so on.

The kind of people who apply for things like medicine would still be applying for it even if there was no recession. Points for courses <350 I can see rising but only those courses.

Oh, and ****ing mature students! I kid, I kid

That's actually an extremely good point! I never considered that! It makes me feel better

gemxpink

I think the places should be split up for mature and LC; obviously mature should be only a minority % because lets face it, they didn't take the opportunity first time round so why should they get first choice just because times are hard and they want to do it now!?

Really can't see huge rises in high point courses either, I expect everything under 450 to stay the same really =/

randylonghorn

Making It Bad wrote: »

This may sound a bit blunt but let's face it, points for already high point courses like medicine aren't going to go up. The 10% rise is due to people who would have before not bothered with furthering their education when times were good.

...

The kind of people who apply for things like medicine would still be applying for it even if there was no recession.

These points I agree with.

Making It Bad wrote: »

They will be mostly made up of people with <300 points who will be applying to do further certificates, level 6 kinda courses and so on.

Not necessarily. Yes, there will be a lot of people in this category, but there will also be people who will be aiming pretty high, who would during the boom have opted to work for a couple of years before heading to college, perhaps for financial reasons or simply to get a better idea of what they wanted to actually do, or who would have opted to take a gap year and head to Oz / elsewhere.

Making It Bad wrote: »

Points for courses <350 I can see rising but only those courses.

As I said, I agree with you re: medicine / the very top point courses, but I think you are setting the cap too low here.

Making It Bad

randylonghorn wrote: »

Not necessarily. Yes, there will be a lot of people in this category, but there will also be people who will be aiming pretty high, who would during the boom have opted to work for a couple of years before heading to college, perhaps for financial reasons or simply to get a better idea of what they wanted to actually do, or who would have opted to take a gap year and head to Oz / elsewhere.

I don't think these kind of people make up the majority, maybe a small % but not really worth taking into too much consideration, perhaps I could be wrong though.

randylonghorn wrote: »

As I said, I agree with you re: medicine / the very top point courses, but I think you are setting the cap too low here.

Well I think the <350 point courses will see the biggest rise, with minor rises of courses <450. Can't really see it affecting courses >450, but again it's hard to tell.

pathway33

If there's nearly two candidates for every place they should just pair everyone off and have a fight night.

Conor108

Science in UCD. 385 last year. I'd expect/hope that it gonna go to AT MOST 425. Is that too ridiculously low of an estimate??

pathway33

Lawliet wrote: »

These out of work wank3rs better not be going for science!

Just said on TV3 news that arts and science will be most affected by the increase in numbers.

Reillyman

gemxpink wrote: »

I think the places should be split up for mature and LC; obviously mature should be only a minority % because lets face it, they didn't take the opportunity first time round so why should they get first choice just because times are hard and they want to do it now!?

What if they couldn't afford to go to college after leaving school, even if they had a great leaving cert. I hate this middle-class attitude of short sightedness. Grow up and look at the world around you...

felic

expected at least 75,000 applicants this year!
Thats manic! Points across the board will rocket. And its too late now for them to change the entry system. But my God... Minister for Education do something. This will put even more pressure on kids and everyone in general. If they are allowing mature and primary degree holders back in to do second degrees, then at least make the system fair and maybe allocate a certain percentage of the places to such applicants, the majority of places being offered to school leavers.

pathway33

the colleges said they may have to put a cap on the number of places. was that a cap on the number offered to 'matures' or a cap on everything?

pathway33

and i thought there was a cap already. isn't that why we have the points system? so they must be talking about limiting the 'mature' entry

Ddemo

well im thinking of business in ul and its 385 @ the moment and ill prob onky get 410ish would it rise that high?

felic

Well I think its very difficult to make any predictions at this early stage in terms of points. But we can be sure, that increased numbers in applicants, and low numbers of university places, points will rise.
The very high points course Id imagine will remain around the same levels they have been for the last few years. They never show a major drop or rise. What makes them so high is the numbers of people wanting to get those courses and also the number of people who repeat the leaving from the year before. The majority of repeats who try for courses like Veterinary, Pharmacy, Medicine, Dentistry, all pretty much get their 600 points cos they have a year of full time revision, and if the person got say 560 the first time... you know?

I hate this HPAT assessment thing. I love the idea of making things fair and that was the intention, but if you look at it, its still a points race there. So for anyone going for Medicine, you need to secure your 550 points to be in with a chance. The HPAT is a tough exam and you cant predict what way those results will go. But ud need to be hitting the 730 mark this year for all of the medicine courses.

As for the people going on about mature students... the amount of mature places on courses is pre allocated and is not part of the CAO. they always have been there and always will be. These applicants have a separate application process but still need to apply via the CAO. SO those increased applicants for that category wont affect the points.

The problem is the recession and people who had degrees and working in whatever fields now find themselves idle and with no secure prospects of jobs, have decided to rethink their careers.
These applicants will already have their Leaving Cert results from the years they did them. Those results are impossible to factor into this because they could be anything.
But I reckon courses in Architecture, Engineering, Construction, IT, Finance will all either stay the same or drop.
Science and Arts will rise.

Good luck to everyone. And LC students.. work your butts off between now and June

cheesydoodles

really depends on its popularity. it's mostly the arts courses that are always rising so i'm screwed lol. University of limerick? that's 4th on my list

Ddemo

cheesydoodles wrote: »

really depends on its popularity. it's mostly the arts courses that are always rising so i'm screwed lol. University of limerick? that's 4th on my list

was thinking of maynooth to do finance and accounting but acommodation is hard come by seemlingly???:eek:

cheesydoodles

Ddemo wrote: »

was thinking of maynooth to do finance and accounting but acommodation is hard come by seemlingly???:eek:

oh i gave up on maynooth months ago. i really wanted to go there cos they're the only university in the country that do anthropology points are gettin heaps higher there every year. it'd be cheaper livin at home and gettin the train. you could probably apply for an education grant and get free train fare

Ddemo

cheesydoodles wrote: »

oh i gave up on maynooth months ago. i really wanted to go there cos they're the only university in the country that do anthropology points are gettin heaps higher there every year. it'd be cheaper livin at home and gettin the train. you could probably apply for an education grant and get free train fare

really would like to go der and get accomodation but sure thats wishful thinking. where u thinking of going?

I thought there was already a number of places kept back for mature students, because they're not entering based on school leaving exams...?

Ddemo

Deleted User wrote: »

I thought there was already a number of places kept back for mature students, because they're not entering based on school leaving exams...?

well im a leaving cert student and feels its unfair that more mature places are been reserved in certain courses???:(:( less chance of students getting there courses if the boarderline as regard points:mad:

justaday

any idea on points for orts in ucd? 400?

Ddemo

Ddemo wrote: »

well im a leaving cert student and feels its unfair that more mature places are been reserved in certain courses???:(:( less chance of students getting there courses if the boarderline as regard points:mad:

No, what I mean is that LC students aren't competing with mature students. There is a small number of places allocated for mature students, which are separate for the places for school leavers (ie the places printed in prospectuses). At least that's what I think.

Besides, mature students have just as much a right to higher education as school leavers. It's much much harder to get into college as a mature student anyway, you're assessed on previous work/education and there's interviews etc.

randylonghorn

Ddemo wrote: »

well im a leaving cert student and feels its unfair that more mature places are been reserved in certain courses???:(:( less chance of students getting there courses if the boarderline as regard points:mad:

Why?

These are people who have worked for the last 5 / 10 / more years during the boom, and paid taxes to support the education system and the Free Fees Initiative and so on.

Many couldn't afford to go to college when they were your age (they probably can't really afford it now either, but it's more useful than sitting on the dole!)

It's not their fault that the bankers, developers and govt. have landed us in this mess.

Admittedly, it's not yours either, or the others doing LC this year, but the reality is that things are tighter for everyone at the moment, in many different ways.

Blame the people who got us into this, not your neighbours down the road who are simply trying to equip themselves with additional skills / qualifications in the hope of being able to find another job / support their families.

Ddemo

Deleted User wrote: »

No, what I mean is that LC students aren't competing with mature students. There is a small number of places allocated for mature students, which are separate for the places for school leavers (ie the places printed in prospectuses). At least that's what I think.

Besides, mature students have just as much a right to higher education as school leavers. It's much much harder to get into college as a mature student anyway, you're assessed on previous work/education and there's interviews etc.

i agree totally but im just saying as regards the extra pressure been put on LC students with regards the amount of CAO applicants. Every % will count this year more so than recent years with college places been faught for more so now than ever

Four-Percent

I hear all this talk of two applicants for every place, but how many applicants were there per place last year? It's not like there are double the numbers applying this year...

Ddemo

Four-Percent wrote: »

I hear all this talk of two applicants for every place, but how many applicants were there per place last year? It's not like there are double the numbers applying this year...

they said on rte 4500 more applicants this year?