Thousands of CAO applicants will discover today if they have made it to third-level education when first-round offers are published this morning.
The points for a range of arts, social science and communications subjects have fallen for the first time as student numbers drop.
Details of the offers were available from 6 a.m. on the CAO's website and are published in full in this morning's Irish Times. Posted offers should reach students by tomorrow morning.
The CAO will publish its second-round offers on September 3rd at 6 a.m. About 10 per cent of places not taken up in the first round will be offered in this round. This means points could fall further in areas where demand is not strong.
This morning's offers indicate a continuing rise in the points required for entry to medicine. The minimum points requirement is 570 in what is expected to be one of the last years of the current regime.
Science subjects staged a major recovery from a very low base with points required for science at UCD increasing from 280 last year to 325 this year.