Any student who has a propensity for helping people and is trying to decide what career path to take, has considered studying nursing. It is one of the most rewarding, and, of course, challenging options available to prospective students.
But due to its popularity, it can also be quite difficult to attain a place on a nursing course. In recent past, points for the degree programme have climbed, partly due to spending cuts during the recession which resulted in hundreds of fewer places.
But things are improving. There has been an increased allocation of college places in areas such as nursing and medicine in the past three years, which seems to have reduced demand for the available places, thus decreasing point requirements.
Admittedly, CAO points last year were still very high in some courses such as University College Cork (520) and University College Dublin (499).
However, there were lower requirements in other settings such as Letterkenny, Castlebar, Sligo, Athlone and Tralee where they ranged between 350-371 points for the exact same degree.
According to the 2024 CAO application data, nursing applications decreased by 4 per cent, raising the likelihood of CAO points reductions.
Options
But there are also various options within nursing available to students. Of course there is a general nursing degree, but universities and technological universities also offer programmes in psychiatric and mental health nursing, dental nursing, while others offer degrees that are specialised in both general and child nursing.
Damian Butler, mature student support officer at the Access Office in University College Cork, said the number of alternative pathways is continually increasing.
“We get an awful lot of students who have always wanted to do nursing but don’t get the points in the Leaving Cert. And the approach for them is to do a QQI level 5 course in a college of further education,” he said.
“You do a level 5 QQI in pre-nursing or healthcare, one of these programmes. It works exactly like the Leaving Cert. You do eight modules, in the full-time course. They’re all over the country. Then you get points for each of those modules or subjects you study.”
From there, students have the opportunity to use the points they get in the post-Leaving Cert course to apply for a place at third level.
“Entry works the exact same way in the Leaving Cert. So for example, if we have 20 places in general nursing, and 30 people have applied to get in. Lets say 20 of those people get six distinctions \[in their PLC\], then those six people end up getting in. It’s all based on whoever you’re up against in that year,” Mr Butler added.
Not only does this route give students an alternative pathway to study nursing, Mr Butler said it is also a “great route” as it allows them to see the reality of what a course in the field would be like.
Often, such vocational career paths are quite different in reality from what the person envisaged.
“The beauty of these level 5s is it gives students the opportunity to get out there and see if it is actually something they want to do. People often don’t think about what these careers actually entail,” he added.
Mr Butler said this is particularly beneficial for mature students, which is those who are over the age of 23.
“Not only is it giving them the extra entry route, but it also gives that option to get back into full-time study and to get experience about what it’s actually like to work as a nurse in a hospital,” he said
“Then they can apply to the CAO both as a mature student and a QQI student. So it is doubling the number of places available for them to come into.”
For the mature admissions pathway, the entry requirements are quite different from those required for the typical graduate student.
“The entry route is you fill in the CAO application and then you do a test with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland. It’s the mature admissions pathway test,” he said.
“It’s a pressurised test, with loads of numbers and figures. That’s the only thing a mature student has to do. You’re assessed based on everybody else in the country.”
Upon completion of the test, candidates are given a percentile score. Mr Butler added: “Realistically if you’re a mature student, if you come in the top 30 per cent in the country, you’re going to get a place.”
In the past, many people have opted to study nursing abroad, as well. This is largely because for many individuals who chose the QQI path, despite achieving top marks in their PLC courses, they were unable to obtain an undergraduate place due to demand exceeding places.
“Scotland has been a common route for students. Scotland was a huge draw, it’s much easier to get into and they love Irish people over there because the Leaving Cert prepares them so well,” Mr Butler said.
“But nowadays, the places are there and there are more routes available, so people don’t have to go abroad as much as they would have pre-Covid. Covid has really changed the face of healthcare in an education setting.”
Tertiary programmes
The final entry route available to students is the tertiary programmes, a relatively new initiative that allows prospective students to study at third level without CAO points.
In these courses, students spend their first year in further education or a PLC and, having successfully completed the exams, transfer to the local technological university to complete the degree, without having to submit any further applications to the CAO. Eligibility for these programmes is dependent on an interview.
These programmes are expanding, too, with Mr Butler stating UCC will have its first nursing programme under this scheme in September 2025.
There are now more avenues than ever before, increasing the accessibility of these degrees.
According to Mr Butler this is incredibly important, as there is a need for people from all sectors of society to work in healthcare, for example, in order to reflect the community in which they serve.
“The idea is to open it up and diversify the [student nursing] population. We need more people from the Travelling community, we need more migrants, we need more people from deprived areas to be nurses,” he said.
“This is so the patients can feel they can relate to the person looking after them. We can support everyone in our community if those people can see themselves in the person that is caring for them.
What is certain is that following the initiatives outlined above, the well-motivated average school leaver can now aspire to secure a nursing degree programme if that is the area they would like to pursue.
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