ROUND TWO CAO offers have been issued to 3,370 people this afternoon.

Among these offers are 2,364 for Level 8 courses and 1,006 for Level 7 and 6 courses. Of the Level 8 offers, 1,050 applicants received an offer for their first preference course, having missed out on it in the first round of offers. 

Those who have received an offer today have until 3pm on Wednesday, 10 September, to accept it.

The way the CAO offers work, you cannot be offered a course that is lower on your CAO list of preferences than something you’ve previously been offered – if you were offered your first choice in round one, you will not be offered another course, regardless of whether or not you chose to accept it.

However, if you were offered your second preference in round one and accepted it, there’s still a chance you may receive an offer for your first choice in the coming rounds. 

The CAO’s head of communications Eileen Keleghan advised applicants to carefully consider their options between now and Wednesday afternoon, when an offer must be accepted.

“Many of the applicants receiving a second round offer today may have already accepted an offer in round one, and it is important that they take the time to decide between these courses and inform CAO before the reply date of this Wednesday, 10 September at 3pm if they wish to accept the new offer,” she said.

“Accepting the new offer will automatically cancel a previous acceptance.

“If this is an applicant’s first offer, they can choose to accept this offer, and this will not prevent them from receiving a higher preference course in a later offer round if they are deemed eligible.

“It is important to note, however, that most offers have been issued at this stage and this may be the only offer that they will receive.”

Keleghan assured those who have been unsuccessful in receiving either an offer or their first choice that there are “many options” to pursue their chosen field. Further education courses offer qualifications and opportunities to progress to third level; apprenticeship schemes; reapplying through the CAO next year; or repeating the Leaving Cert.

The Available Places facility also has approximately 140 courses advertised, and some additional offers will be issued on a weekly basis from today until early October.

Applicants can check if they have received a round two offer by logging in to their CAO account using the ‘My Application’ facility from 2pm.

Successful applicants will also receive an offer notification by email and text message if they have selected this option.

The points charts will be available to view on The Journal from 4pm today, when they are publicly released.

If you do not wish to accept your offer today, you don’t need to do anything, and your previous acceptance will still stand. If you wish to defer your current offer, you must contact the institution’s admissions office immediately by email with the subject line ‘Deferred Entry’.