Offers may be viewed and accepted online on the CAO website from date to be confirmed after the Leaving Certificate results have been issued. You can then specify the course of your choice from a list of courses available to be accepted.
As only one offer may be accepted, care is required to accept one course only.
On the CAO website click View/Accept Offers then simply enter your 8 digit CAO number and your date of birth. You can then specify one course of your choice from a list of courses available to be accepted.
In making your choice, it's worth noting that while Level 8 courses are well favoured, Level 7/Level 6 courses in the desired subject are excellent qualifications in their own right, with excellent employment prospects and opportunities for further studies with a well-established route from Level 6 to Level 7 to Level 8. Remember also that accepting or rejecting an offer from either list at this stage will not exclude you from being offered a higher preference from either or both lists in later rounds, assuming there are vacancies available and points fall sufficiently.
This would suggest that you don’t have enough points or meet the minimum entry requirements for your Level 8 choices. You can accept your Level 7/Level 6 offer now and could receive an offer of a Level 8 course in later rounds should the points fall sufficiently and you meet the minimum entry requirements.
If you’re offered your first preference in either the Level 8 or Level 7/Level 6 list it is assumed that you’ve been offered what you really wanted and no further offers will be made from that list for that Level. The basic rule is that only higher preference choices can be offered in later rounds. At this point, you will need to carefully consider all your options, which for some may even include re-applying through the CAO the following year.
No, there is no facility at this stage to change your course choices or the order of preference. The closing date for the CAO Change of Mind Option is 1st July.
In addition to points, each higher education institution has its own basic minimum entry requirements and some courses may also require particular subjects/grades regarded as relevant to your course choice. Just in case, you should re-calculate your points based on your six best subjects of one sitting of the Leaving Certificate, considering that Universities differ in the points they award for LCVP results, and check the SETU prospectus for minimum entry and specific course requirements. If you don’t meet the minimum or specific course requirements, an * will appear immediately to the right of a Course Code on Part A of the Offer Notice, indicating the educational institution in question considers you ineligible for admission to that course. It is also possible, that if there is an * beside the points required for the course on the CAO points table printed in national newspapers, that random selection applies in your case. This means that not everyone with that number of points was offered a place. You will have to wait for the second round to see if any vacancies arise.
No, there is no chance of being offered a place on a course when you fail to meet the course requirements. Points are the final selection procedure and only come into play when an applicant has satisfied all other requirements for the course. However, please refer to the maths entry section of the University website for details.
You could still receive an offer in later rounds should the points fall sufficiently and you meet the minimum entry requirements. In the meantime, you should consider some of the many alternatives such as PLC courses or courses in independent third level colleges. There is also the possibility of applying to view marked scripts for specific subjects prior to making an appeal, or repeating the Leaving Certificate and/or re-applying through the CAO next year.
There are no guarantees if you are hoping to secure a higher preference offer in later rounds as the CAO will try to fill as many vacancies as possible in the first round. Any remaining vacancies will be offered in subsequent rounds usually with slightly lower points requirements.
Accepting or rejecting an offer from either list at this stage will not exclude you from being offered a higher preference from either or both lists in later rounds, assuming points fall sufficiently and you meet the minimum entry requirements. If you do receive an offer in a subsequent round and you wish to take up this offer and this is in a different college, you must ensure that you officially deregister from SETU before completing your registration in your new college. Details on deregistration are available here.
To cancel a round one acceptance, please send an email to the CAO before 12 noon on the final day of accepting places. Click here.
Should any places remain unfilled in a particular course after all offers have been made and the waiting lists of applicants meeting minimum entry requirements have been exhausted, available places may be advertised and listed on the CAO website. If you have not applied to the CAO previously, you may make an available place application to the CAO online. If you have already applied to the CAO you may add an available place course to your list if preferences.
In early September you will receive an email with details of your virtual StartSETU Orientation activities.
If you do not receive your StartSETU details, please contact either [email protected] for our Waterford campuses or [email protected] for our Carlow and Wexford campuses. Information will be issued to the email address you entered when you applied to the CAO.