Record 60,000 receive CAO offers after Round Two

A total of 60,002 individual students have so far received an offer of a place in third-level education, the highest ever after the release of CAO Round Two.

Today, offers landed for 3,125 students, including 1,137 receiving an offer for the first time this year.

Among the 3,125 are 716 students who received their top choice of a Level 8 "honours" degree programme.

They include 33 medical school applicants who got their first preference today.

Another 31 also received a higher preference, following a further small points drop for all medicine courses on top of the spectacular falls in last week's Round One.

Meanwhile, a total of 1,256 applicants for Level 7/6 (ordinary degree/higher certificate) courses received their first preference in Round Two.

As well as medicine, other highly-contested healthcare disciplines also making offers include a number of nursing schools, as well dentistry and physiotherapy.

For instance, dentistry in Trinity College Dublin is down 10 points to 575*. The asterisk means that not all on 575 points were offered a place. And, in UCD, midwifery is down 30 points to 445*.

The strong demand for engineering and construction courses this year led to some big jumps in points in Round One and the places were obviously snapped up, leaving little comfort for those who were hoping for a second round offer.

This is in contrast to the last few years when places on construction courses were regularly offered at Round Two and beyond.

However, against the trend, architecture in Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) has fallen five points to 585 today.

Most high profile business courses filled up after Round One, with comparatively few offers made to students hoping to land a place today. However, Business and Languages at Trinity College Dublin have made some new offers.

Similarly, students hoping for points drops in other areas of growing popularity, such as science and technology, will be disappointed at the lack of offers today.

Because the CAO operates two lists, at Level 8 and Level 7/6, some applicants would have received two offers today, with a total of 3,320 offers made.

It has been a record year all around for the CAO, as demand for a third-level qualification grows among school-leavers and others,

Applicants receiving an offer in this round have until Wednesday September 5 to accept.

CAO general manager Joe O'Grady said many of the applicants receiving a second round offer may have already accepted an offer in round one, and it was important that they take the time to decide between these courses and inform CAO before the reply date if they wish to accept the new offer.

For applicants who have received an offer in a previous round, if they prefer the new course, they should accept the offer by the 'Reply Date", which automatically cancels their previous acceptance.

A student who does not wish to accept the new offer need do nothing, while anyone who wants to defer must contact the college.

Over 45,000 students have already accepted a place in college, including 38,239 who took up offers made in Round One last week. Others, such as mature students, received their offers earlier.