The CAO opened for applications on Monday and so begins a period of decision-making for prospective students.
Career Guidance Counsellor Rory White’s column series continues with helpful tips on making those important choices.
CAO opened for applications earlier this week for students hoping to start college in September 2024. Those applying should put plenty of care and attention into their application in order to ensure they are aware of the various deadlines and to give themselves a better chance of selecting the right courses.
What are the key dates and deadlines?
Those applying to CAO should look to make their application early in order to avail of the discounted registration fee of €30 which is available until 5.15 PM on January 20th. After this date, the cost rises to the standard fee of €45, until 5:15 PM on February 1st. (A late registration will then open up for a time from early March for a €60 fee).
STUDENTS SHOULD NOTE THAT IT IS ENOUGH FOR NOW TO SIMPLY REGISTER YOUR APPLICATION. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE YOUR COURSE CHOICES FINALISED AT THIS STAGE.
The February 1st date is also a deadline for those looking to apply to what are known as Restricted Courses. These are courses that require an extra element such as a Portfolio, Audition or HPAT exam.
The next deadline to note is March 1st which is the last date to submit applications to the HEAR and DARE schemes.
A FREE Change of Mind facility will then open up on May 7th. This will allow applicants to revisit their application and add/remove or change about the order of their course choices. This facility will remain open right up until July 1st which is the final date that applicants can add courses.
To apply to CAO, go to www.cao.ie and click on ‘Apply’. Potential applicants are advised to consult the CAO Handbook for all the important application information.
What you can do to help with your CAO application
Attend Open Days (both on-campus and online)
Nothing beats being on campus in a college to get a feel for the place. Where at all possible, applicants should look to attend the open days of the colleges they are interested in attending. Locally, ATU will be holding their open days in their Letterkenny and Sligo campuses over the next couple of weeks, Ulster University has recently held theirs. Keep an eye out throughout the year for other, smaller open days in our local colleges. A wide range of open days are taking place at colleges across the country, check out the Events Calendar on CareersPortal for information on these.
Check out online events
College marketing departments also run a huge array of virtual events such as open days, college tours, webinars, talks and live Q&A sessions to get their information across to interested students. Most of the time the recordings of these are then uploaded onto their websites. Students (and parents) could tune into these for a closer look at what they have to offer.
Harness the power of Social Media
All students should also pay attention to the social media streams from the colleges and other career guidance accounts. Spend some time to follow them on their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, while many of them are now also on TikTok. These pages are often very active and allow students to see in more detail what a college is like and what a course entails. Many individual subject departments even have their own social media streams so the information available to you can be quite bespoke if you take the time to look.
Don’t leave things until the last minute
Get your application done early and then take your time researching your course choices. Likewise, do not be leaving things like your HEAR or DARE applications, or completing your Portfolio, up to the wire as rushing things can often hinder your application.
Don’t be lazy with your course choices
Some students can be a little lazy and only look at the title of the course. They might like the sound of it and stick it down on their application. Taking this approach is extremely foolish. Students should go deeper and find out as much as they can about what the course involves before committing to it. There is so much more information you can gather about a career area, and the courses you can study to get there, and there are many ways students can do this.
Where should I look for more information?
CareersPortal has all of the information that a student needs when researching a career area. Their CourseFinder has over 4,600 courses listed (around 1,800 are CAO courses), each one is clearly explained and will contain links to any related information, news and video content for that course. It also has an easy-to-use filter system which allows you to quickly whittle down your options and find the courses that are best suited to you.
They also have over 1,000 careers profiled with everything you need to know about what the career involves, the type of person suited to it, how you can enter the career, what the pay is like and even what the job prospects are like. There are lots of videos and career stories and then links to the courses that lead into these careers.
Take a closer look…
Of course, college prospectuses and their websites are also must-visits for any interested student when they know what area they would like to study. These will help students to really ‘drill down’ into the courses and allow them to find out more. When you find a course of interest to you, there are a few key things to look for. Look closely at the modules taught in the course, read what they are about, are they mandatory or elective? Do you know if there is a work experience element built into the course? Will there be an Erasmus opportunity to travel as a part of your course?
Use your own network…
Everyone applying to college should try to get as much information as they can from the people who have been there and done that. Talk to your Guidance Counsellor in school, ask them questions or if they know anything else about a course. Maybe talk to some of your teachers, they can often know you quite well and what you may be suited to. Many of you will also know someone who has either been to or is still at college who could have some little nuggets of good information for you. Ask them what they think of it, what is the best part about it, what is the hardest part of it, do they have any advice for you. Talk to your parents, friends and relations, they can often know you better than you know yourself!
The more information you gather, the better decision you will be able to make. It is YOUR choice at the end of the day and it is important for you to be your own person and try to make a rounded judgement of your own. Just because someone says they love or hate the course, might not mean the same for you. Take what they are saying on board but keep this in mind.
Finally, some other key considerations to think about.
There are also some extremely important questions that you should give due consideration to –
Do you want to study close to home or would you prefer to move away?
What will the financial implications be? Fees, accommodation costs, etc
What are your career prospects likely to be when you finish?
Selecting the course you will be studying next year is quite a big decision, and big decisions should be given time and really should not be rushed into. You should ensure that you have a Plan B, Plan C and more in place in order to have as many options open to you as possible. Put the time and effort into your application and you will have a better chance of getting it right.
Rory White is a Ballybofey-based Guidance Counsellor currently working with CareersPortal.ie, Ireland’s National Career Guidance Website. He works with Donegal ETB in Finn Valley College, Stranorlar and is a member of the Donegal Branch of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors. For more than ten years he has been helping Leaving Cert and PLC students as well as adults choose a college course or decide to change their career journey to start something new. Rory’s columns on Donegal Daily share advice on making informed career and education decisions.
– Rory White BA/H.Dip in Guidance & Counselling
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