THERE is a tendency to assume that for those lucky enough to get the points and the chosen college place, that is the end of the matter. This is far from the case for quite a number of students who contact this column. Failing their first year at college, dropping out disillusioned or simply finding that the course is wrong for them or that they cannot cope with it seems to be the norm for quite a number of students.
They are back on our phone line, a year or two years down the line, disillusioned, confused and this time without the backup of school or career guidance counsellor. And there doesn't appear to exist any help network for these students, anywhere they can go for updated careers advice.
Indeed, there are many obstacles in their way. If a student finds that they have landed in a course which is completely inappropriate, it is obviously important that they should change track - and should be able to do so sooner rather than later. It is, of course, possible for such a student to hang in there on the course for the year, meanwhile re applying to the CAO again next year when they will be considered on their merits.
But if a student does move to another course next year, they are punished for having the bravery to change courses they will be charged full fees as one can only avail of the free fees situation once for each year of college education, i.e. they will not pay fees for a student to do first year twice even if it is in a totally different course. The same applies to the maintenance grant, of course. This has potentially even more serious effects, with a student who is totally dependent on a grant effectively prevented from changing courses.
Points Race has spoken with students caught in this dilemma this year. While it seems reasonable that if someone has to repeat a year through failing exams, their grant or free fees status might not be restored, surely it should be possible not to penalise someone who is a genuine case of changing directions; while appreciating that it is not easy to differentiate between those who have wasted the year and genuine cases, a bit of flexibility would surely not go amiss?
In some cases, however, it has to be pointed out that students - or perhaps more so their parents have unrealistic expectations.
We regularly have calls from parents whose son or daughter has failed first year, managed to repeat and scrape through in the autumn and has now failed half of second year - and they are seeking advice as to what other college in the CAO/CAS system they might apply to. They are reluctant to face up to the fact that they may have simply set their sights too high for their son or daughter and that not everyone is capable of qualifying as an accountant or electronics technician.
Much of this heart searching could be avoided if applicants did their research in advance of filling out the CAO form and accepting a college place. College after college tells us they are inundated with applicants ringing up inquiring "what dues such and such course consist of?", "if I did your course what careers would be open to me?", "are the transfer possibilities?".
One hard worked university department reported its secretaries were run off their feet answering such calls. Yet this is all information which the applicant should have been researching back this time last year before they even filled out the CAO form. Points Race is regularly flabbergasted as the gay abandon with which applicants throw down the names of courses on the form with no thought whatsoever as to what they involve.
And we are talking here about questions as basic as "what's a social science degree?" and "is social worker the only thing you can do with a social science degree?"
. REPEATING
AT LEAST repeating the Leaving Cert provides an extra year in which the applicant can engage in this kind of research and go into the CAO stakes again next year with a much more informed knowledge of exactly what is available and what the various courses involve.
Quite a number of the students this column speaks to are thinking of deferring, repeating or re applying next year precisely because they are still confused and do not really know what course is suited to them.
Deferring is not always very useful in these circumstances as you have to put your deferred place as number one on your CAO form next year; however, if you put it further down the list all that happens is that the deferral lapses and you are in the running for all courses - including the deferred one - on your points like everyone else.
Doing a PLC course for a yearn with a view to re applying through the CAO next year is another option, and probably one of the best reasons for repeating is to allow yourself to re assess what is on offer - provided you make sure that you really do your research this time around. Colleges have no problems giving advice and information to students during the year, but right now they are all inundated with requests and it can be difficult to cope with them all.
. TRANSFERS
PARENTS have very unrealistic expectations about the transfer situation also. When this column publishes that there are plenty of transfer possibilities to degree courses from RTC certificate/diploma courses, we regularly get parents ringing up inquiring "if she takes up the business certificate in Carlow RTC, can she transfer to UCD before the end of first year? The simple answer to that is why on earth would she expect UCD to take someone on transfer who had come well short of the UCD points?
The whole point of the transfer system is that it is an alternative route to a degree. It is not a question of spending a few months in purgatory in order to earn the Heaven of UCD or Trinity.
In the case of the majority of RTC diploma/certificate courses, what happens is the student does a two year certificate course which gives him a national NCEA validated certificate which is, in itself, a job qualification. Those who get a merit or distinction in the certificate exam can then advance to a one ear diploma - in that RTC or any other RTC - to work for an NCEA validated diploma, which again is a very good job qualification or which can also lead to a one year follow on degree in any of the RTCs. Diploma holders can also in many case seek a number of reserved transfer places on degree courses in universities, the DIT, British universities or in the RTCs own mainstream full time degrees.
Yes, you will find students in UCC, DCU, UL, UCG, UCC etc. who have transferred from RTC or DIT diplomas, but they have to earn their places on these courses. Some do very well indeed, graduating with just as high - or higher results - than those who went into the university ab initio.
The DIT is somewhat different; while it also has quite a range of two year certificate courses, a higher number of its courses are ab initio three year diploma courses, where the student goes straight into the three year diploma from school. It does not tend to have one year follow on degrees, but does provide some opportunities for students to transfer from its certificate/diploma courses to its own range of ab initio degrees. It is also, of course, entirely possible for students from a DIT diploma courses to apply for places on follow on degree courses in any of the RTCs - Tallaght would be an option for those who wish to remain in Dublin, for example.
. ROUND TWO
ROUND Two goes in the posts today with several thousand offers being posted from the CAO/CAS offices in Galway to successful applicants around the country. The betting is that there will not be a huge number of offers, but everyone should know by tomorrow mornings post. The points will also be published tomorrow.