The points for a range of arts, social science and communications subjects have decreased for the first time as student numbers fall.
The striking change in points requirements come as the CAO this morning releases its first-round offers to students.
They show that points for science have staged a major recovery from a very low base, as students heed the advice from Government, industry and teachers about the good career prospects in these areas. The points required for science at UCD have increased from 280 last year to 325 this year.
Details of the offers are 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.
Demand for the new nursing degree courses continues to rise. In most cases, the points required for nursing (between 360 and 400) is greater than that required for an arts degree.
Medical courses continue their inexorable rise. The minimum points requirement is 570 in what is expected to be one of the last years of the current regime.
The Minister for Education and Science, Mr Dempsey, is backing proposals which would see all candidates with over 450 points being eligible for aptitude testing to gain entry.
The most popular course in the State, arts in UCD, has seen its points requirement drop by five, to 370. Arts at NUI Galway and the University of Limerick are down by 10 points. At UCC points for social science dropped 15 to 390, while NUI Maynooth has seen a 10-point drop in its social science degree.
There has also been a significant fall in points required for communications courses. At DIT, media arts is down from 465 to 445. A range of courses in journalism and multi-media in DCU and DIT are all down by up to 40 points.
About one in four of all CAO applications are for arts/social science courses. Career experts say these areas are being "squeezed" as fewer students pursue more college choices.
The strong drive by Government, industry and guidance counsellors to inform students about opportunities in science and technology is also having an impact on figures for arts.
In all, CAO applications fell, for the first time, this year by more than 2,500 students. The CAO says more than 72 per cent will receive at least one offer today. In terms of degrees, some 44 per cent will obtain their first preference. The CAO says 73 per cent of all degree applicants will receive one of their top three preferences.
Among cert and diploma applicants, more than 93 per cent will secure one of their top three options. This means that most of the estimated 18 per cent of applicants who receive no offer have only applied for a degree course, and have decided to spurn the opportunity to pursue this degree course through the cert and diploma route.
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.
Among colleges, the patterns were broadly similar to last year. UCC appears to have seen an increase in points required for a wide range of its courses but NUI Galway saw the opposite pattern as points dropped, especially in engineering courses.
Students have until tomorrow to decide whether they wish to view their Leaving Cert papers in schools on September 3rd and 4th next. Should they decide to appeal, they must make a payment of €37 to the State Exams Commission by September 8th.
Last year about 10,000 grades were subject to appeal. In about 20 per cent of cases, marks were upgraded.
