MORE THAN HALF of CAO applicants have secured their first-choice course in this year’s round one offers, though intense demand for health, agriculture and business degrees has driven up points in many areas.

This afternoon, a total of 86,098 round one offers were made to 59,201 CAO applicants. These offers consisted of 54,256 level 8 course offers, and 31,842 level 7 and 6 course offers.

Just over half (51 per cent) of level 8 offers were for the applicant’s first preference course, while the vast majority of level 7 and 6 offers (90 per cent) were for the applicant’s top choice.

Health was the most popular subject among applicants once again, and health-related courses saw the highest increase in first preference choices.

14,445 applicants listed a health-related course as their first preference, an increase of over 2,000 since last year. A total of 74,897 applicants put a health-related course on their CAO preferences list.

Many health-oriented applicants of the class of 2025 will need more points to qualify for the most popular health-related courses this year.

Medicine in Trinity increased by one point compared to last year, while in UCD, medicine increased by three points. Both also require a Health Professions Admission Test (HPAT), a standardised aptitude test required for entry into most medicine and health-related courses.

Medicine in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland also increased by a single point compared to last year.

In University College Cork and the University of Galway, points for medicine courses remained the same.

Agricultural Science courses across the country also saw a significant jump in points compared to last year.

Applicants now require 381 points for the South East Technological University (up 2 points on last year), 420 points for the University of Galway (an 11-point increase), and 484 points for University College Cork (up from 446 points in 2024).

In UCD, agricultural science jumped to 432 required points this year, up from 400 points last year.

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Interest in business courses remained high – over 9,000 applicants listed a business course as their first preference.

Requirements for business courses offered a mixed bag however, and there were increases here too – DCU rose to 410, up from 408, and in Trinity, a range of courses increased their points requirements.

The popular Business, Economic and Social Studies (BESS) course rose to 566 required points, up from 555 last year.

Those looking to become tomorrow’s teachers saw the points drop slightly from 488 to 484 at Mary Immaculate Limerick and from 507 to 506 at Maynooth.

In Marino Institute of Education, there was no change, while in DCU the points requirement jumped up 5 points to 485.

First preferences for arts courses dropped slightly this year – and points dropped with interest. Maynooth decreased their points requirement to 400, while UCD dropped 4 points to 463.