The Guidance Department would like this opportunity to wish all students of 2020 the very best with their calculated grades and eventual CAO offers.
Your grades are available to you from today Monday, September 7th and Round 1 CAO offers will be made available on Friday, September 11th.
The Guidance team here at the Institute are here to help you with your queries. Our contact details are as follows:
Margaret Keating: mkeating@instituteofeducation.ie
Ingrid O’ Connor: ioconnor@instituteofeducation.ie
Lorraine Ryan: lryan@instituteofeducation.ie
Aoife McArdle: amcardle@instituteofeducation.ie
The Institute of Guidance Counsellors (IGC) has produced a very useful and comprehensive booklet regarding the results and the potential next steps. To view this booklet please click here
The timetable of results and other important dates are available on pages 23 and 24 of the IGC booklet. Here are a few of the key dates:
Friday September 11th: Round 1 CAO Offers available from 2pm
Wednesday September 16th: Acceptance Round 1 offers
Wednesday September 23rd: Round 2 CAO offers
Friday 26th September: Acceptance Round 2 offers
Further important dates are also listed on www.cao.ie
This year, for reasons outside everyone’s control, most things about the Leaving Cert and going to college are different. Some of you may be disappointed with your grades and some of you will be very satisfied.
Having received your results, you need to allow yourself a day or so to digest what has happened. There is nothing that can be done in the day or two after you receive your results. Indeed, there is no point in trying to plan ahead when you are perhaps in an emotional state. It is preferable to wait until the college offers are published. There is no way to predict if the points you require will go up or down until offers are made available. In any case, well done to you all for navigating this unforeseen territory and for getting this far.
What do I do next?
On Friday 11th September you can log into your CAO account. You may be offered a course on both level 6/7 and level 8.
Round 1:
When you get your offer it is important to follow the instructions as laid out by the CAO in their communication with you.
You will be offered the first course on your list for which you have reached the points, have met the minimum entry requirements and have the specific subjects (if applicable)
Appeals:
On Monday September 14th you will have access to the calculated grade awarded to you. You can do this through the Student Portal. At this time you will not be able to find out your ranking within your class. In due course the DES will publish a mechanism for you to follow so as to access your class ranking.
Alternative Routes and Pathways
Once round two has passed and if you find yourself without a college place for ‘20/2021 please don’t despair, you have other possibilities.
- Available places
- Private Colleges
- PLC Colleges,
- Sitting some of your subjects in November
- Repeating?
If you are considering 1-3 above please contact us if you need any help.
PLCs
PLCs offer some very good opportunities. Many courses now are linked to degree courses in ITs and Universities. Some good stand- alone courses exist too. In any case it is worth considering a PLC course. Students who do them and go on to college often report how much better prepared they felt for college life by having done a PLC course.
If you opt to sit one or a few of your subjects please keep any eye on www.examinations.ie/. These exams will begin on November 16th. You will be able to take the best results from the calculated grades and the actual written exams and put them together. However, you will most likely have to wait until September 2021 to take up a college place based on a fusion of these results.
UCAS
Some of you have had conditional offers from U.K. universities. As is the norm you are in direct communication with the college. Please continue to do that and again if there is anything you need help with please do not hesitate to contact us.
Mainland Europe
Some of you have made applications to the Netherlands, Poland and other countries in Mainland Europe and have ongoing communication with them. Again, if you need assistance please connect with us at the email addresses above or by calling 01-6645201