It's that time of the year again. Thousands of students wait anxiously for that little slip of paper coming through the door telling them the results of their 13 long years of education. Its hard to imagine how such a small piece of paper could determine the rest of your life - but to an extent at least it does.

Of course you could play it cool and not worry about that little piece of paper. You could promise yourself you'll go and join a convoy of New Age Travellers because you want to opt out of the rat race. Better still you could convince yourself that results aren't everything and many a great entrepreneur made millions without formal academic success.

But then there's the parents, brothers, sisters, neighbours and classmates to face on the day. You can just imagine all your enemies gloating over your failure while they parade their slips about like GAA supporters waving the country flag at the All Ireland Final. Panic is filling you up like black water.

As thousands of 17 year olds all around the country are opening their "little bundle of joy", trembling with every tear, there will be many screams of delight and many tears and of course there are always a few who don't really give a damn.

I remember when I did my leaving exams, I found this interesting book (you always do), Zen And The Art Of Motor-Cycle Maintenance with quite a few references to the school system. It slagged off the school grading system and said the brighter students were not so surprised by their results because they kind of had an idea of how they had done. Whereas the not so clever dogs of the world placed a lot of emphasis on whatever marks the teacher gave them because that's how they judged themselves - on someone else's opinion.

One thing is certain, regardless of anyone's personal view of the rights and wrongs of the education system, its the only one we have and it looks like we are stuck with being educated and given some kind of market commodity.

And after the tiny brown envelope has been opened, inevitably we are faced with an unenviable set of choices and decisions.

What do I do next? Do I go to university at home or away? Will I move out of home? Will I repeat my Leaving Cert. or try and get a job? What do I want to do? The list of questions is endless. But the last thing you want to do is join the 300,000 on the dole queues.

Although you will have left school, your schooldays are not necessarily over. A new kind of schooling is in store for the many thousands who choose to stay in education. For some university life will open new doors socially and educationally. For others, there's the chance to get a second bite at the academic cherry if your results don't work out the way you want them to. And if you do happen to repeat your exams there is one comforting thought. . . .

By the time you finally enter university, third level college, or the big bad world, you will have an extra year of maturity behind you. You won't just be another naive fresher throwing up on the campus lawn during your first week of term. It's a bit like taking a year out although there's some hard work to do too.

Many universities prefer students who have spent a year out either in further study or touring around the world. They want more mature students who have a year's experience under their belts. The eggheads reading your CAO forms will be impressed if you spend your free year doing something constructive. There are plenty of organisations that can help you spend a year out, Voluntary Services International in Dublin which organises projects you can work on around the world being one example.

Another option is working on a Kibbutz in Israel. There are plenty of organisations which recruit volunteers to work on the Israeli collectives you can contact.

However if you don't want to stray too far from home and are determined to stay a student, filofax in one hand and Furstenburg in the other, well there's a few good colleges Hot Press would like to draw your attention to, other than the mainstream universities.

ASHFIELD COLLEGE: This college has an excellent record of Leaving Cert. results each year. A school of Drama also operates here for budding young Thespians. Any adults wishing to get back into the swing of the educational blues can enrol in the comprehensive Adult Education and Leisure programme that's on offer. There are courses in languages, cookery, interior design, creative writing, art, cartooning and personal development.

There are intensive French, German and Irish language courses. And during the holidays students can catch up on missed opportunities by attending the Intensive Revision courses for Junior and Leaving Cert.

Students for Ashfield College may enrol for 5th year, 6th year or repeat Leaving Cert. The college is situated in a relaxed atmosphere and beautiful surroundings in Templeogue. It has come a long way since it's foundation in 1977 and is usually called the Education Centre.

LSB: The LSB College offers degree courses and certificates. If you haven't got the points necessary for your chosen college and don't fancy doing repeats, you can start off on a course that leads into a degree. So if you're determined to graduate with a degree, there's no need to repeat your exams in an attempt to increase your points for university entrance.

LSB has recently become the first independent college to offer an Irish degree. Currently being assessed by the National Council For Educational Awards is a LSB BA in Psychoanalytic Studies. This degree is the first of it's kind to be available in Ireland or the UK.

The college also offers a BA in Business Studies, which is a three year degree programme geared to preparing graduates for employment.

LSB offers a two year National Certificate in Business, Tourism, International Marketing and Financial Services. Successful students are able to transfer into the degree course.

Meanwhile for those of you who only want to do a year's professional training, LSB offers a wide range of very practical one year programmes in Marketing/PR, Tourism Studies and Business and Computer Studies. And Secretarial courses are on offer.

If you want to know more about it give Guy Flouch a ring on 6794844.

ICS: ICS is an international group of correspondence schools which specialise in the writing and supply of Home Study Courses. From ICS's three open learning centres in Glasgow, Dublin and Sutton, they offer courses from Computing, Electronics, Business Studies, Technical, Horticulture, Languages, Office Skills and Emergency Services to general interest and leisure.

ICS was established over a century ago and since 1890 over 10 million students around the world have enrolled for an ICS course.