Some last minute advice from Lighthouse Career Guidance

With the CAO 1^st Feb deadline edging ever closer and with students up to their eyes with mocks here is a quick summary of WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.

1. The main thing now is to get the application in on time. Fill in all your personal and educational details. Course Choices can come later.
2. That is unless you want a Restricted Course i.e. a course that requires an audition/portfolio/interview/aptitude test (eg HPAT) then you MUST include this course in your initial application. It cannot be added later.
3. Tick DARE/HEAR/SUSI if these are applicable to you. Don’t worry about documentation at this stage.
4. Tick language exemption if relevant.
5. If the above is done by Thursday you can take a breath.
6. Check entry requirements for courses that you are interested in. For example if you want to study Veterinary but you are not studying Chemistry, even if you get 625 points, you won’t get an offer. There are always students who are dismayed in August when CAO offers come out and they’ve done really well but do not meet entry requirements for a particular course. This scenario can be avoided by checking out Entry Requirements on Careers Portal or Qualifax.
7. Order of Preference. This is so important! Remember you may only get ONE offer. If you get the points and you get your top choice then that is it. CAO only moves up your list of choices never down. So be careful what you wish for. Only put down courses that you would genuinely like to do.
8. Level 7/6 and Level 8. Make sure to fill out both columns here. This is one way to safeguard your choices and keep another door open.
9. Include some “Insurance Options” or a back-up plan: courses where you know you will definitely get the points.
10. Double check your application before Thursday to make sure everything is accurate. Remember you have until 5pm 1^st July to finalise choices.

For one-to-one consultations contact www.lighthousecareerguidance.ie