College sees drop in applications in CAO first round offers

There has been a drop in students applying to Trinity as their first choice on the CAO, according to figures released by College today.

26.5% of this year’s 84,226 CAO students applied to Trinity, with 10,862 selecting a Trinity course as their first preference.

This is a 2% decrease in first choice applications compared to 2022 (11,091).

According to College, 3,784 students received an offer to study here today, with 63% of those students receiving their first choice of course.

Three College courses require 625 points in this year’s first round of CAO offers.

Dental Science, Economics and History and Management Science and Information System Studies (MSISS) all require the maximum points a student can achieve in the Leaving Certificate exam.

Random selection was applied to MSISS, meaning not all applicants who earned 625 points received an offer in the first round.

Point requirements for single honour courses dropped by an average of 12 points this year, while joint honour course requirements dropped by an average of 26 points.

Middle Eastern and European Languages and Cultures saw the biggest drop in points requirement, dropping by 79 points to 473.

Applications for Music Education rose by 131%, leading to a surge of 103 points to 555.

Fewer courses were offered by random selection this year, according to College, with four  single honours programmes not accepting all students who got the necessary points compared to nine in 2022.

Vice-Provost Orla Shiels said College looks forward to the “artificial upgrade on exam results for Leaving Cert students and to restoring the pre-pandemic equilibrium”.

“[I] hope that we will see more of the same next year as the Covid-effect on the Leaving Cert begins to normalise,” she said.

“I congratulate all students on this important day, and we look forward to welcoming many of you to Trinity in a few weeks’ time.”

First years are due to start the 2023/24 academic year on September 18.