Central Applications Office

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The Central Applications Office or An LárOifig Iontrála (CAO) is the organisation responsible for overseeing most undergraduate applications in the Republic of Ireland, the Postgraduate Applications Centre is a related organisation that oversees some taught postgraduate courses. Students applying for positions in third level education courses in Ireland apply to the Central Applications Office rather than to individual educational institutions (colleges and universities). The CAO then offers places to students who meet the minimum requirements for a course for which they have applied. In the case that there are more qualified applicants than available places on a particular course, places are offered to those students with the highest score in the CAO points system.

1 Points system
2 Outside the points system
3 2007 controversy
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Points system

Higher Level
Percentage	Grade	Points
90+	A1	100
85 - 89	A2	90
80 - 84	B1	85
75 - 79	B2	80
70 - 74	B3	75
65 - 69	C1	70
60 - 64	C2	65
55 - 59	C3	60
50 - 54	D1	55
45 - 49	D2	50
40 - 44	D3	45

Ordinary Level
Percentage	Grade	Points
90+	A1	60
85 - 89	A2	50
80 - 84	B1	45
75 - 79	B2	40
70 - 74	B3	35
65 - 69	C1	30
60 - 64	C2	25
55 - 59	C3	20
50 - 54	D1	15
45 - 49	D2	10
40 - 44	D3	5

The CAO awards points to students based on their achievements in the Leaving Certificate examination. A student's points are calculated according to these tables, counting their best six subjects only (resulting in a maximum score of 600 points). If a student has sat the Leaving Certificate examination on more than one occasion, their points are calculated according to their best year's performance.

Points can also be scored for results in other examinations, such as UK A levels. However in this case each college and university can decide the number of points they allocate to a grade, currently the most common is: A (190), B (160), C (130) and D (100). This is likely to change however due to a recent report by UCAS which compared the Leaving Certificate and A levels.^{[citation needed]}

In the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme, students may obtain a Distinction (70 points), Merit (50 points), or Pass (30 points).

[edit] Outside the points system

The points system is designed for young people leaving secondary education. Many institutions reserve places in some courses for older adults, people from disadvantaged backgrounds, or other groups unlikely to achieve a place through the points system. Applications for most of these are routed through the CAO, but processed manually by the individual institutions rather than automatically via the points system.

[edit] 2007 controversy

In 2007, the CAO received much criticism^{[citation needed]} for its failure to extend the February 1 deadline for online applications. This followed reports of many students as well as teachers [1] being unable to access their application forms online in the final days, [2] [3] prompting the Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin, to call for the deadline to be extended on the basis that students were already under enough pressure as it was.^{[citation needed]} Some students had to leave school on deadline day in an effort to have their forms completed in time.^{[citation needed]} The CAO responded to these criticisms by advising applicants to submit a hard copy of their application. The application fee for this is €10 more. [4]