The Irish Second-Level Students’ Union has criticised the use of what it said was the “deeply unfair” random selection process after some students who achieved maximum points lost out on their first preferences of college courses on Wednesday.
In all, 51 per cent of third-level applicants received their first choice following the initial round of offers from the Central Applications Office (CAO), with four-fifths being offered one of their top three preferences.
However, places on 25 level-eight courses in high demand nationwide were allocated using random selection. Two of these courses required the maximum 625 points for entry, meaning some top-performing applicants missed out while others got in.
These two courses at Trinity College Dublin, which resorted to using the lottery system for six courses, were dental science and its degree in management science and information systems studies.
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Despite expectations among some in the sector that lowering grade inflation might reduce the use of random selection, there was no change in the number of courses using it.
Preston Ó Caoimh, president of the second-level students’ union , described the process as “deeply unfair”, saying it had caused “ongoing concerns” for students in the lead up to exams.
“Students can work tirelessly to achieve the points needed for their course, only to see their hopes dashed by what is essentially a lucky dip. It doesn’t truly reflect the ability, effort or potential of the student just as many feel the Leaving Cert itself doesn’t,” he said.
He said some students, who faced both lowering grade deflation and random selection, had spoken of feeling “disadvantaged”.
Trinity said the downward adjustment in grade inflation this year was “offset by a significant increase in demand”, with cut-off points rising by an average of 9.6.
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The number of CAO applicants overall jumped 7 per cent to 89,347 this year, up from 83,543 in 2024.
Trinity vice-provost Orla Sheils, who previously described random selection as a “cruel arbiter”, said while the reduction in the uplift in Leaving Certificate grades was welcome “it is regrettable that the effects of this gradual unwinding will continue for a number of years to come”.
“There is really no fair way of solving the problem when students present on equal marks,” she said.
While the random selection approach had been a feature since before the Covid-19 pandemic, it had “clearly been exacerbated by the grade inflation of recent years”, she said.
Prof Peter McHugh, interim president of University of Galway, which used random selection for four courses including medicine and general nursing, said the continued use of the lottery system was “unfortunate”.
“If gradual unwinding of grade inflation is going to take years, then further consideration of solutions to avoid lotteries should be considered,” he said.
“It is worth considering whether there could be H1a-b and H2a-b [grades] and whether this would help create a distinction between candidates on merit,” he said.
Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless said the random selection process was “very fair”.
“What would be unfair would be some kind of human intervention to nudge one student above another. It’s very fair – it’s not desirable, it’s not preferable but as a lottery system, it’s probably the least worst way to do it at the moment,” he said.
