CAO 2024: 56% get first choice but grade inflation ‘seriously disadvantaged’ some students (2024)

Main Points

• College offers were issued to thousands of college applicants at 2pm today: 56 per cent secured their first choice, 83 per cent got one of their top-three
• CAO helpdesk: put your questions on 2023 college offers to our guidance counsellors from 1-8pm
• Random selection was used in a total of 23 courses, including high-points programmes such as medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, business, management, engineering and others
• What’s up and what’s down? Check entry points for all CAO courses in our table below

What if you don’t get the course you want?

There will celebration and disappointment in many households today.

But, as my colleague Peter McGuire points out, these days it really is true that the Leaving Cert isn’t the be-all-and-end-all.

He outlines all the options available to candidates here including education’s best-kept secret: new tertiary degrees which don’t require CAO points.

If you need to contact our CAO helpdesk, it’s live now until 8pm and will run over the rest of the week,.

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.

• Random selection: six courses required the use of random selection to allocate places, which compares with five last year. They are 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).
• Maximum points: one single honours level eight course, dental science, is being offered at the maximum points level of 625 (with random selection).
• High points: A total of eight single honours courses require students to have 600 points or more.

-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.

• Maximum points: students require 625 points to get entry to economics and finance. However, the course is on random selection so, in a cruel twist, some on maximum points may miss out
• Most popular: the most sought-after course at UCD for 2024 was science (544 points). Others in high demand were undergraduate medicine (735 points - including Hpat), veterinary medicine (589), engineering (568), commerce (545), art - BA joint honours (419), humanities (467) and social sciences (468)
• Points increases: A total of 16 undergraduate entry courses saw their points increase significantly over 2023. The include modern languages (up 91 to 398) and education with modern languages/as Gaeilge (up 47 to 478 points), social policy and sociology (up 42 to 410) and BA joint honours (up 41 to 419).
• Biggest increase: In terms of increases in first preference choice for 2024, business and law represented the largest rise, seeing a 46 per cent increase in first preferences compared to last year.

-University of Galway

University of Galway is offering 3,753 places for first year undergraduate students.

• Up and down: cut-off levels for points for University of Galway degrees showed mixed movement with almost a third of courses increasing points or remaining steady.
• Biggest increase: arts (drama, theatre and performance studies) jumped by 41, but many others saw decreases
• High points: all engineering and law programmes recorded a cut-off at 500 CAO points or above, while there was strong demand for biomedical engineering (up 30 to 578) and biomedical science (up 10 to 577). Medicine remains random allocation at 728 points, including Hpat scores. Five out of eight Commerce programmes require more than 500 points.

-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

• Languages: It says language programmes have climbed in popularty with offers in the BBA Business and Language programme up by 15 per cent and introducing 30 new offers for the BCL Law and Languages degree.
• Law: There was a 20 per cent increase in round one offers for both the LLB and BCL programmes.
• Business: a 10 per cent rise in CAO offers across its suite of programmes, including finance and accountancy. The BA in Finance programme saw an 80 per cent increase in offers.

-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.

• Points increases: courses were strong interest was reflected in points increases included electronic & computer engineering, (520 points), mechatronic engineering (520), nursing - general (411), nursing - mental health (340), actuarial and financial studies (613) and accounting and finance (523).
• Alternative routes: Over 600 of DCU’s new students have already accepted places at the University through routes other than this year’s Leaving Certificate, including those with Further Education qualifications, mature students and students taking up deferred places.

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.