"The CAO isn’t the be-all and end-all…” It’s a strange phrase to hear come out of the mouth of a CAO expert, someone who is trained to know the ins and outs of the notorious and often dreaded third level education application form.

But is it not a life-changing piece of paper? “Certainly not!” Donnchadh continues. “Often this can come from parents, because parents knew nothing else from when they were growing up. But now there are so many opportunities for students away from the CAO. You can still get where you want to go outside of the CAO, whether it’s through the new tertiary degrees that were launched, PLCs, apprenticeships, or traineeships. Ignore the idea that the CAO is the be-all and end-all. It’s only when you look back that you realise, 'I made a lot more of that then I should have.'

Even If the CAO isn’t the biggest determining factor in your future success, should you aim for a particular university?  “I think employers are looking at students with a certain skillset," says Donnchadh. "Students will have a certain level of education that employers want. They’ll be looking at levels six, seven or eight. Whether you do your business degree in Waterford or you do it in Galway, all degrees are accredited by the QQI of Ireland. They all have that standard."

Donnchadh maintains that when picking your next step in education, it’s important to consider your undergraduate experience, as opposed to going for the biggest name.
“As an applicant, you do have to decide how you would better excel at learning," he notes. "Would I do better with more hands-on lab time/studio time, or would I be better in more of a lecture hall environment with assignments? That’s the same with picking colleges and universities.

"Would I excel better in a larger university where I would have more anonymity, or would I be better in a smaller college where I can build that relationship with lecturers and classmates? You have to figure out what's best for you."

This year, a particular concern facing Leaving Cert students is that they still don’t know whether or not they will be affected by grade inflation."It would be helpful for students to know if they are looking for the points for courses based on last year's points, which had an average 8% grade inflation, or are they looking at big drop off in points this year. At this stage, we don’t know."

But how do you break down what you actually study, then, when there are so many endless possibilities?  “What I would say is look at something more general," says O'Mahony. "If you want to go into engineering, make sure it’s general engineering, so you get to experience bio-medical engineering, chemical engineering and civil engineering. Then decide which one you want. You can go into general science, an arts degree, or general business. Try not to pick a degree that’s too specific. Most guidance counsellors would say, ‘Keep the degree as general as possible, with lots of different specialisations that you can focus on in the third and fourth year of your degree.'

“If you keep the degree general, then you can specialise in your post-grad. If you do something like an arts degree – the horrid arts degree that parents are terrified of – it does actually leave you with a lot more post-graduate opportunities than specialising in something more unique."

What is the stand-out piece of advice you'd give the 2024 Leaving Certificate class? “Tertiary degrees are now open, they launched last July," says Donnchadh. "2023/2024 will be the first full year of tertiary degrees, where no CAO points are required and there’s loads of different opportunities within it."

Tertiary degrees allow students to enter the third level education pathway and earn a level 8 university degree completely outside the CAO points system. There are 23 tertiary degree programmes in 11 locations across the country, covering five fields of provision including Business, ICT, Arts, Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction and Health & Welfare.
"Applications for that open on the first of February," says Donnchadh, "when the CAO closes for a little bit. They’ll remain open until the end of September 2024."

If students are looking to the CAO, however, Donnchadh has very specific advice. “The CAO advice I would give is do not ignore correspondence from the CAO," he says. "Generally if you’re getting an email from the CAO, it’s an email from them asking you to do something. If you ignore that, it’s at the peril of your own application. A last piece of advice: when you’re applying for the CAO, put your courses in genuine order of preference. That’s really, really important."

For further information on the newly launched tertiary degrees, check out nto.ie

For information on PLCs, check out plccourses.ie

And for those interested in pursuing apprenticeships, check out apprenticeship.ie

Read the full education special ahead of the CAO deadline in the new issue of Hot Press, out now.