Martina Mulhall, Gold Star Careers offers one-to-one or small group career advice, in-person or online, to people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.
Follow on Instagram for updates and reminders about all things careers, or head over to the website to book a personalised guidance session.
It’s a pivotal week for CAO applicants.
Between appealing results, accepting Round One offers, or making the decision to defer, there are deadlines everywhere you turn.
For many, it’s also the start of a new chapter – registering for courses, moving into accommodation, or scrambling to secure it.
It’s a time of excitement, pressure, and big decisions, all unfolding at once. But remember, there’s no single ‘right’ path. Every decision is just the next step in your journey.
Appealing results
If you wish to appeal your results, the deadline is 5pm today, Monday September 1.
The process is straightforward: apply through your CSSP, €40 per subject, with the fee refunded if your appeal is successful. Each year, between 14% and 20% of appeals result in an upgrade.
The provisional date for appeal results is September 26, but this depends on the volume of appeals submitted.
If your grades improve, your position on the CAO Order of Merit list will be updated.
Where an upgrade makes you eligible for a course, the Higher Education Institution (HEI) may offer you a place, either immediately or on a deferred basis, depending on availability.
Final decisions on offers and deferrals rest with the HEI, not the CAO.
Accepting your Round One offer
You have until 3pm tomorrow, Tuesday September 2, to accept your Round One offer
A reminder of how the CAO Rounds system works:
You may have received two offers, one level 6/7 and one level 8. You can only accept one (per offer round).
If you accept a Level 8 offer, your Level 6/7 offer disappears. If you accept a Level 6/7 offer, you still remain in the running for a Level 8 course in later rounds.
Once you accept your first choice level 8 offer you won’t receive any further offers in future rounds.
If you receive a lower-choice offer, accept this offer by the closing date. You can still be offered a higher preference in a later round if a place becomes available.
It is important to remember that once you are offered a course, everything below it disappears. You won’t be offered any lower choices in later rounds, even if you get more points or if places open up.
See here for a short CAO video guide on accepting offers.
What happens once you accept an offer
- Usually within a week of acceptance, your chosen college will email details about registering, orientation, and fees.
- During orientation week, typically in early/mid-September, you will meet lecturers, get timetables, and learn how the campus works.
- Lectures typically begin the week after orientation.
Available Places
The Available Places facility opened on Thursday August 28. This facility is open for existing and new CAO applicants – even those already holding an offer, to add additional course choices for remaining vacancies.
You can insert these choices above your current offer, giving you a strategic way to improve your outcome. The process is similar to the CAO ‘Change of Mind’.
Available places courses are added daily on the CAO website, so it’s a good idea to check in here regularly.
If you have already made a CAO application there is no additional charge for adding in available places. New candidates pay a fee of €45.
See here for a short CAO video guide on Available Places.
Accommodation
Options include on-campus student accommodation, off-campus privately owned student blocks, lodgings/digs, or privately rented houses/apartments.
Some students are lucky enough to have secured on-campus accommodation, while others may be on a waiting list. You can still join waitlists by visiting the college’s website.
Many more will be hoping for cancellations. or will need to consider the private rental market.
Most colleges operate an accommodation listing site for their area. Here, you can find house shares, rooms, and digs-style accommodation close to the campus.
You can also contact the university’s accommodation officer, who will be able to point you in the right direction of where to start looking.
Lodgings/digs – renting a room in a family house – can be a very practical option for first years, particularly for students who may feel nervous about leaving home.
As with on-campus accommodation there is great variety of what’s on offer. Some, but not all, provide meals.
Some offer Monday to Friday only. Most are offered for the duration of the academic year only, and include the cost of bills in the rent.
Many students opt for a room in a private house or apartment through letting websites such as myhome.ie and daft.ie. Be aware of scams. Know what your rights are as a tenant. SpunOut offer some great advice here.
Deferring an offer
If you want to defer an offer of a place you do not accept your offer. Instead, you must email the Admissions Office of the relevant college immediately.
You must give your name as it appears on your CAO application, quote your CAO application number and the course code of the offer you wish to defer, and give the reason(s) for your request.
You must mark “DEFERRED ENTRY” clearly in the subject line of the email. You can also check the website of the relevant college to see if they have a deferral policy available online that you can refer to.
The email must arrive in the Admissions Office of the institution at least two days before the reply date shown on the Offer Notice. The college will communicate their decision to you directly.
If the deferral is not granted, you may then accept the offer for the current year, providing you accept the offer by the reply date.
You must send all communications about deferrals to the appropriate Admissions Office and not to CAO.
The following year, if your deferred course is still the course you want, you reapply through the CAO, listing the deferred course as your only preference. That course offer will then be made in Round A in early July.
It is important to note that you are not obliged to take up the place that you defer.
If, for any reason, you change your mind in the intervening year, you can apply for the new course(s) you are interested in through a new CAO application, and forego your deferred place.
Final thoughts
This is a big week. Stay focused, take time when making decisions, but be sure not to miss any deadlines.
If the CaO offer that’s right for you hasn’t come your way don’t lose hope. There are so may excellent alternative pathways – PLCs, Apprenticeships, Traineeships, Tertiary Degrees – that will get you where you want to go.
And remember, you don’t have to figure it all out alone. Talk to your parents, teachers, or Guidance Counsellor. You can also reach out to me at Gold Star Careers.
Martina Mulhall, Gold Star Careers offers one-to-one or small group career advice, in-person or online, to people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.
Follow on Instagram for updates and reminders about all things careers, or head over to the website to book a personalised guidance session.
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