CAO 2024: 56% get first choice but entry to more than 20 courses allocated on random selection

How many candidates secured 625 points this year?
The CAO has released details of how many points were achieved by college applicants this year.
They show how grade inflation has led to a very large proportion of students securing very high points since the pandemic.
For example, a total of 923 students (1.6 per cent) secured top grades this year compared to 207 (0.4 per cent) in 2019 and 153 (0.3 per cent) in 2016.
This sharp increase since 2019 was prompted by the use of teacher-predicted grades and a subsequent decision by the Minister for Education to keep grades at these high levels.
Leaving Cert points 2024:
625 points: 923 students, or 1.6 per cent of applicants
600-624 points: 1,813, or 3.2 per cent of applicants
500-599 points: 10,988, or 19 per cent of applicants
400-499 points: 16,020 or 28 per cent of applicants
300-399 points: 13,683, or 24 per cent of applicants
200-299 points: 7,844, or 14 per cent of applicants
100-199 points: 3,613 or 6 per cent of applicants
0-100 points: 1,903 or 3 per cent of applicants
What are entry points for the most popular courses?
We’ve compiled entry points for some of the most popular courses across universities, below.
To search entry points for all 1,000-plus CAO courses, you can use our tables below.
Colleges at a glance: points trends across some universities
-Trinity College Dublin
There has been a modest fall-off in points at Trinity, with an average drop of nine points across level eight single honours courses, and an average fall of six points for joint honours courses.
-UCD
UCD is making over 6,000 offers to study on its undergraduate degrees and accounts for some 13 per cent of the total number of first preferences through the CAO.
-University of Galway
University of Galway is offering 3,753 places for first year undergraduate students.
-Maynooth University
It has given a record number of offers – 4,200 – to students in round one of today’s CAO offers. It says there were increases in applications in areas such as science, education, business, law, and the arts
-DCU
Dublin City University has issued more than 4,000 offers to students with sustained demand across its engineering, nursing, mathematics and some business undergraduate programmes.
Grade inflation is ‘seriously disadvantaging’ some students
Trinity College Dublin has more courses – six – than any other higher education institution where students were selected on a lottery system.
In one of its courses – dental science – some students missed out on a place despite securing a maximum of 625 points.
Colleges are forced to use random selection due to the high volume of students on top grades which makes it difficult to differentiate between candidates.
Trinity’s vice-provost Orla Sheils says grade inflation has “seriously disadvantaged” students from Northern Ireland and abroad whose results have returned to pre-pandemic levels.
“Continued grade inflation also makes it more challenging for some students to adapt to third level study, especially in courses with a high points quota,” she said. “The increased number of students who achieve or exceed the required points for popular courses also introduces a lottery system for allocation of places. This is a cruel arbiter when students have worked so hard.”
CAO offers are out: 56% get first choice but more than 20 courses on random selection
A total of 56 per cent of college applicants have received their first choice in today’s CAO round one offers.
Most applicants (83 per cent) have secured one of their top three offers.
However, more than 20 courses are on random selection, which means a lottery will be used to select these applicants.
Despite securing maximum grades – 625 points – some candidates missed out on places due to random selection for UCD’s economics and finance course and Trinity’s dental science.
The courses where random selection has been used this year include:
UCD: medicine (graduate entry); economics and finance (625 points); actuarial & financial studies (612 points), veterinary medicine (589 points)
Trinity: mathematics (589); integrated engineering (556 points); management science and information systems (613 points); integrated engineering with management (613 points); and dental science (625 points) and global business (601).
UCC: pharmacy (613), occupational therapy (566), medicine (graduate entry),
MTU: physical education studies with business at the Kerry campus (451)
Atlantic Technological University: education, home economics and biology – with concurrent teacher education (510); education, home economics and Irish – with concurrent teacher education (429); education, home economics – with concurrent teacher education (476)
RSCI: medicine – undergraduate (732 with Hpat points), graduate entry medicine,
University of Galway: medicine – undergraduate (718 – including Hpat scores).
University of Limerick: physiotherapy (590), electronic and computer engineering (443)
IADT: applied psychology (389 points), design for film (680 – with portfolio points);
What should I do when I get a college offer?
Brian Mooney has this advice for students who receive a college offer this afternoon.
As he points out, if an applicant receives an offer of their first choice,it is the only offer from that list they will receive.
If they receive an offer of a lower preference they may, depending on the number of acceptances received by colleges, receive an offer of a higher course choice at any stage up to as late as mid-October.
However, this applies to a very small volume of courses.
CAO 2024: Waiting on an offer today? Here’s how to respond to it – The Irish Times
How much is college accommodation this year?
It’s the first dilemma facing CAO applicants after they receive their college offer – can I find a place to live?
Katie Mellett has compiled a very useful guide to the cost of accommodation across Irish universities.
It’s no surprised to see that rental costs for most part are only going one way; that’s if you can find a place.
The gong for the most expensive accommodation goes to UCD at Roebuck Castle, where a catered, en suite apartment costs a whopping €12,063.55 for the 2024/25 academic year.
CAO points 2024: the good news and the bad news
It’s a twitchy time for students — and parents. You’ve got your grades, but do you have your college place?
We won’t officially find out until 2pm, but we have some significant indicators.
First, the good news: it is expected that close to 60 per cent of CAO applicants will secure their first choice college place this year, while up to 85 per cent are likely to secure one of their top-three places.
The not-so-good news: random selection will be used to select candidates on some prestigious courses such as medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, business, management, engineering and others, according to higher education sources.
We’ll have all of the latest updates, news, and analysis as the offers go out live here.
You can read more on what we know so far in this news story here.