CAO

kave2

What documents I need to send to CAO? I applied as mature and FETAC(currently doing it). Is it CV, personal statement only? Do I need letter of application? Anything else? Thank for help.

SuperInfinity

kave2 wrote: »

What documents I need to send to CAO? I applied as mature and FETAC(currently doing it). Is it CV, personal statement only? Do I need letter of application? Anything else? Thank for help.

What do you mean "is it CV, personal statement only", there is no need to send in a CV or a personal statement.

paperclip2

Read page 12 & 13 of the handbook. It tells you what docs you need to send under each non- standard applicant category.
You don't need to send a CV. Make sure that the courses you are applying for require a personal statement before you do one. Some don't e.g. Mature applicants to nursing don't need to include one.

VirtualWorld

I'm going through the process now too. I strongly recommend you start filling in your application form online at CAO now. You can save and amend. It has through up a few things I hadn't considered.

There is a 1,000 CHARACTER note for example where the heading is:

Explain the relevance of your life / educational experience to your
application and state your educational goals and objectives

I nearly cried when I saw this because I thought I had misunderstood the 1,000 WORD Personal Statement and wasted my time doing it. And I couldn't even begin to think how I was going to shrink it down to 1000 characters after all my hard work on it. Where as my understanding now is that the 1000 word PS is still needed for most of the courses, and this new 1000 character bit still has to be addressed.

I don't know what else I'm going to find as I go through it, but I'm glad I still have some time to work on it. Albeit not THAT long.

Best of luck with it. Who knew this part would be so difficult eh?

paperclip2

VirtualWorld wrote: »

I'm going through the process now too. I strongly recommend you start filling in your application form online at CAO now. You can save and amend. It has through up a few things I hadn't considered.

There is a 1,000 CHARACTER note for example where the heading is:

You can post in your personal statement! It can be as long as you like although a page to page and a half typed is pretty standard.
In that online box just put in that you will forward the statement with your other documents. Make sure it has your name and CAO number and DOB on it for good measure and post it.

VirtualWorld

I've seen one of my courses suggest a 600 word statement, so it might be a good idea to keep an eye out for that type of advice.

But thank you for that Mod. I was expecting to find another window later in the process where the different P St are to go in, and saw this one as a generic introduction for all choices.

Another tip guys... HIT SAVE, SAVE, SAVE on the CAO site. I've just been kicked out before saving my latest amendments to the application.

SuperInfinity

Anyone else feeling paranoid about leaving it at 1000 characters? I managed to fit it into that, surely they can't be biased against that since it's the default limit?

Nordie Durdle

SuperInfinity wrote: »

Anyone else feeling paranoid about leaving it at 1000 characters? I managed to fit it into that, surely they can't be biased against that since it's the default limit?

Yeah I typed mine and sent it in a long with the other supporting documents like exam results etc. I aimed for 600 words. I have no idea why they have such a small character limit on that form.

Larianne

I urge you to read my tips on applying as a mature student in the thread linked in my sig!

You don't need to send a CV unless the course/college you're applying to requests it. UCD requested it for a course I applied to there.

Check the mature student application requirements for the college you are applying to! They are usually different depending on where you're applying to.

Check and double check!

Louth1994

hi everyone i only found out today that the course deadline was 1st of feb then i had to wait till may to put my choices online but i saw on the CAO website that from the 6th till the 1st of march for an extra fee of 10 euro i can put my courses on my application does anyone know if this is correct

Sala

Hi Louth1994, yes you can if you have already registered - see my thread re missed CAO deadline. CAO told me top send supporting docs asap so do it soon

MarkyMark22

Is this for mature students only? I'm worried now..

paperclip2

MarkyMark22 wrote: »

Is this for mature students only? I'm worried now..

Is what for Mature students only? The 1st Feb deadline? That's for everyone but its a bit more serious for Mature students as they may not be able to avail of late application to the 1st of May. You need to check out the story with your own courses.

MarkyMark22

paperclip2 wrote: »

Is what for Mature students only? The 1st Feb deadline? That's for everyone but its a bit more serious for Mature students as they may not be able to avail of late application to the 1st of May. You need to check out the story with your own courses.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I meant the writing a personal statement for your courses? It's the first I've heard of it, so I'm worried that I didn't do it.

paperclip2

MarkyMark22 wrote: »

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I meant the writing a personal statement for your courses? It's the first I've heard of it, so I'm worried that I didn't do it.

The majority do need it. Main exceptions would be mature applicants to nursing degrees and some art courses that need portfolios. What courses did you apply for?

MarkyMark22

paperclip2 wrote: »

The majority do need it. Main exceptions would be mature applicants to nursing degrees and some art courses that need portfolios. What courses did you apply for?

What about FETAC students? The strange thing is I wasn't even prompted to write anything?

I applied for mainly media orientated courses, Journalism in DCU and DIT.

Photography,
Multimedia
And communications in DCU...

I'll have a word with the guidance counsellor after the midterm just to be sure.

paperclip2

MarkyMark22 wrote: »

What about FETAC students? The strange thing is I wasn't even prompted to write anything?

I applied for mainly media orientated courses, Journalism in DCU and DIT.

Photography,
Multimedia
And communications in DCU...

I'll have a word with the guidance counsellor after the midterm just to be sure.

If you have a recognised FETAC course you can apply through CAO for a course place reserved for FETAC applicants.
However if you are a mature applicant who also has a relevant FETAC course you can apply through both the FETAC route and the Mature student route.
Essentially this gives you a second option at getting a place.

To have applied as a mature student to CAO you would have needed to indicate that you are a special category applicant. If you didn't do that then you probably didn't get the prompt to add in the mature applicant info.

Also if you are applying to DCU as a mature student as well as sending an application to CAO you would have needed to apply separately to DCU as well.

Pages 10 to 13 of the CAO handbook has info on special category applications.

MarkyMark22

paperclip2 wrote: »

If you have a recognised FETAC course you can apply through CAO for a course place reserved for FETAC applicants.
However if you are a mature applicant who also has a relevant FETAC course you can apply through both the FETAC route and the Mature student route.
Essentially this gives you a second option at getting a place.

To have applied as a mature student to CAO you would have needed to indicate that you are a special category applicant. If you didn't do that then you probably didn't get the prompt to add in the mature applicant info.

Also if you are applying to DCU as a mature student as well as sending an application to CAO you would have needed to apply separately to DCU as well.

Pages 10 to 13 of the CAO handbook has info on special category applications.

Thanks for that, I'm applying through Fetac but I'm not a mature student. So I'm not sure where I stand. I'll have a word with my guidance counsellor to clear anything up.


Cheers! I appreciate it!

RabbleRouser2k

Okay, I don't want to hijack a thread, but I have a query here, so forgive me. I did a FETAC course a number of years ago, and I plan to do a course in LIT. I qualify as a mature student, but I would rather apply using my FETAC results, since I am absolutely terrible at interviews. (I mean, just awful. It's weird, if I go for an interview for something I don't particularly care for, like, a job cleaning toilets, I will come across as cool and collected. And get the job. But if I do an interview for, I dunno, a Video and Computer games shop where they said I could take home a free video game every week, in addition to my paycheck which is a 1000 euro a week, I would choke so hard at the interview that I would just have less than .000001 percent chance of getting the job. (This amazing job does not exist, it is just an example I had to give.:())

Anyway, I applied through the CAO using the FETAC course I did a few years ago. (I did really well in it too, with 10 distinctions, the max 400 points one can get.) I left the mature student block blank (Like I said, I just cannot do interviews.) I rang the college and the person I spoke to, explained my position, she said that it would be okay, as long as the CAO was in before the 1st February and I had certain documents ready that are required for the course, that every person has to prepare to apply.
Well now I have to send in a letter to confirm my attendance, but the letter has a mature student box, and since I did not tick that box on the CAO, I was wondering if I need to tick the box on the form?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

SuperInfinity

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

Okay, I don't want to hijack a thread, but I have a query here, so forgive me. I did a FETAC course a number of years ago, and I plan to do a course in LIT. I qualify as a mature student, but I would rather apply using my FETAC results, since I am absolutely terrible at interviews. (I mean, just awful. It's weird, if I go for an interview for something I don't particularly care for, like, a job cleaning toilets, I will come across as cool and collected. And get the job. But if I do an interview for, I dunno, a Video and Computer games shop where they said I could take home a free video game every week, in addition to my paycheck which is a 1000 euro a week, I would choke so hard at the interview that I would just have less than .000001 percent chance of getting the job. (This amazing job does not exist, it is just an example I had to give.:())

Anyway, I applied through the CAO using the FETAC course I did a few years ago. (I did really well in it too, with 10 distinctions, the max 400 points one can get.) I left the mature student block blank (Like I said, I just cannot do interviews.) I rang the college and the person I spoke to, explained my position, she said that it would be okay, as long as the CAO was in before the 1st February and I had certain documents ready that are required for the course, that every person has to prepare to apply.
Well now I have to send in a letter to confirm my attendance, but the letter has a mature student box, and since I did not tick that box on the CAO, I was wondering if I need to tick the box on the form?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Does it say: "tick here if you are a mature student" or "tick here if you wish to apply as a mature student"?

I think some institutions will not accept you as a school-leaver if you're over 23 so they have to know if you're a mature student or not (automatically - it would be trivial to have this in the system since they already crosscheck lots of other data). So the mature student box must only be relevant for people such as yourself who wish to apply only as a school leaver and NOT as a mature student (in which case they will leave it blank).

RabbleRouser2k

It's the former, 'If you ARE a mature student'

I think I will just leave it blank. If they want to list me as a M.S, fine. Thanks for the information by the way. Really helpful.
I was far too confused.