CAO Decision Time: Don’t Lose Your Tiny Little Mind

When you’re in sixth year in secondary school, struggling to find that delicate balance between getting sufficient sleep, maintaining personal hygiene, doing your homework, revising like a lunatic, carrying on some form of social life, and doing what’s necessary to stay alive (eating can be a good idea), the CAO is a very big deal.

In fact, the only thing more stressful than filling out your CAO form is listening to the chorus of commentators – parents, relatives and friends – who will tell you either that the CAO doesn’t matter, or that it will irrevocably shape your future. The truth lies somewhere in between.

As I prepared for my Leaving Cert, studying on an ironing board in my gran’s attic (seriously), I spent a significant chunk of my daily procrastination time complaining about the evils of the CAO system.

Like most of my friends, I demonised it for measuring only one narrow form of intelligence. I felt it rewarded those with the ability to regurgitate soulless, pre-written essays, and stifled creativity in the rest.

The CAO itself was a terrifying notion – an application form, the aim of which was to dictate your life’s journey into the far-off future. It felt like a horrifically major decision to make when you’re still not old enough to legally buy a drink. Very few of us had any idea about what we wanted to do with our lives. A lot of us still don’t.

And guess what? During the four years since I left school, I’ve learned that the CAO form doesn’t have to be a life sentence. While your school years might make it seem like the pinnacle of your entire existence, it’s important to keep things in perspective. It is a stepping stone. But it does not define your life. No matter what we stick on the form, we all retain the ability to change and grow.

In the long run, many people will find jobs that are far removed from whatever degree course they might take. Others will enter one course, only to go on and study an entirely different subject. Others again will find happy, successful careers never having attended university or having dropped out.

On the positive side, even the existence of Trinity College’s ‘Feasibility Study’ process confirms that there has been a positive change in admissions policies in Ireland over the past few years. This scheme offers places in a select number of Trinity College courses by taking into account a combination of your Leaving Cert results, your performance relative to others in your school (an important emphasis), an essay and some individual answers to relevant questions.

This is just one of several alternative paths into education that your career guidance teacher might not have told you about. I was one of those selected via this process, so I know that it works. And I am grateful for it.

Now to the hard part: what advice would I give to the Leaving Cert victims of 2019?

You can make loads of money as a dentist or a vet. But ask yourself: is that really what you want to do for the rest of your life? The important thing, I believe, is to make sure that your top CAO choices are subjects that you’re honestly passionate about. There’s no point chasing after the top-paying career paths if you’re going to hate every moment of it or drop out after a year or two.

There are over 1,000 course options listed in the CAO system. So, stick down what you love, or what you’re good at, in an order you’re comfortable with. That done, you can set about the unenviable task of trying to stay sane while you navigate the remaining few months before the Leaving Cert starts.

At the end of the day, life will happen, whether you feel ‘ready’ for it or not – and that’s not a bad thing. Instead of dreading the future, and struggling against it, embrace it and enjoy yourself.

Although my tea-pushing gran may have driven me demented – well, slightly! – during my Leaving Cert cramming sessions, she was dead right in the end: you’ll be grand.