Trinity has made a record number of offers to applicants this year, with a total of 3,897 offers being made today in the first round.
This is a result of an increased intake in certain courses, as well as a slight decrease in minimum points needed to enter many courses.
Applications to Trinity have remained consistent with recent years, with a total of 10,988 students listing a course in Trinity as their first preference on their CAO this year, compared 10,867 last year and 11,091 in 2022.
There has been “an average drop of nine points across level 8 single honours courses, and an average fall of six points for joint honours courses”, College said today in a press release.
Six courses in Trinity required random selection to allocate places, including mathematics, engineering, dentistry and global business.
Dental science was the only course in Trinity to use the maximum points (625) as the minimum entry requirement, however “eight single honour courses require students to have 600 points or more”.
Vice-Provost Orla Sheils wrote in a statement today against the use of grade inflation, which government says is necessary to not disadvantage students who may be competing against students who sat the Leaving Certificate in different circumstances and benefitted from predicted grades.
“The continued use of grade inflation to the results has many unintended consequences”, she wrote, adding that it “seriously disadvantages students from Northern Ireland and abroad who are left competing in an uneven playing field”.
It “also makes it more challenging for some students to adapt to third level study, especially in courses with a high points quota”.
She further described the use of random selection for courses as “a cruel arbiter when students have worked so hard”.
She also disavowed the delayed release of CAO offers again this year, which follows the COVID-era timeline.
She said that this places students “under even more pressure to start a new phase of adult life while trying to navigate the scant opportunities for accommodation” in Dublin.
“The lateness of the Leaving Certificate results has also impacted students, who, trying to avoid the crisis of accommodation here, might want to study abroad”, she continued.
The second round of CAO offers will take place on September 9.
First year students will once again begin term later than returning students, with teaching set to begin on September 23 for freshers, two weeks later than older years.
