College Choice/Brian Mooney: For the 60,000-plus potential applicants to the CAO, the most important question is how to select the correct courses and in the correct order of preference.
During their final three years in school most students engage in a series of activities, which help them fine-tune their career choices. Most will have regular class contact with a guidance counsellor during fifth and sixth years.
Part of any guidance programme will include aptitude testing but will also consider the student's interests. This information can then be used to explore the career opportunities in areas best suited to their skills and interests.
Qualifax, a database of every course available nationally, at honours bachelor degree (level 8), ordinary bachelor degree (level 7) and higher certificate (level 6) and post-Leaving Cert (PLC), is available in every second-level school in the State. For those with Internet access from home it is available online at www.qualifax.ie
Having identified a range of potentially suitable courses, students should explore these fully, before entering them on a CAO application form. In recent years most students are submitting their application on-line. This is the preferred option of the CAO, as it eliminates most of the errors that students making paper applications tend to make, such as entering a non-existent course code or mistaking today's date for their date of birth, a mistake of about 20 per cent of paper applicants.
My advice is to read the full prospectus of the course in question available on Qualifax or visit the website of the college in question and explore the course and college more fully.
Visit the college in person if you can. There is no substitute for getting to see a college in its day-to-day life. The reality is that many students end up on the wrong course and either fail through loss of interest or drop out before the end of first year. How can this happen and what can student or their parents do to avoid this pitfall?
First, don't select courses without using the facilities available through your guidance counsellor.
Second, read the course literature carefully. Every year thousands of students drop out because they do not like the subjects taught on the course, yet these subjects are fully outlined in the college prospectus.
Third, select your course based on what you genuinely want, and not on the basis of where friends are going, or which college has the coolest image or the best social life.
All these considerations pale into insignificance, if you end up hating your lectures and eventually dropping out of the course
Fourth, a student may select their higher course preferences well but become careless with lower preferences. Following the exam they are offered a place on one of their lower preferences and they accept it, without checking it out properly. Make sure this does not happen to you.
Ideally, it would be preferable to complete the CAO process by the closing date for applications, February 1st at 5.15 p.m.
Most students can exercise a change-of-mind facility up to the final date for this option, which is July 1st, a full two weeks after the end of the Leaving Certificate examinations.
A student may even submit an application without listing any courses at all, and add them later.
The only exceptions to this rule are known as restricted application courses which we will address tomorrow.
On the general applications process, it is amazing how many simple errors applicants make every year. This process may set in train a series of events, which will shape your life. It is worthwhile taking time to get it right. If a student submits a form with errors this forces the CAO to return the application and levy an additional charge to rectify the error. One way to avoid most errors and to reduce the cost of your application is to apply online. Applications posted to the CAO cost €40, whereas online applications cost €30.
The online version will not allow candidates to make simple errors in most things, including course codes, so it is ultimately more efficient. Candidates can apply online from any computer, whether from school, home, or a public library if necessary. Online applications can be made at www.cao.ie
Finally, if a prospective applicant for some reason does not have a CAO application pack they can get one by sending an e-mail to help@cao.ie, giving their name and address. The CAO will post out a pack immediately. You could also phone them at (091) 509800.