donnchadh
Everybody scrambles around for the CAO January deadlines. Applicants feel they have to have all their courses picked by the 1st February deadline. There is talk of restricted courses, early bird deadlines, CAO registration deadlines on top of UCAS deadlines, tertiary degree applications opening up, HEAR and DARE applicants on high alert to get things done and PLC applications also opening up in January.
The mocks are looming, deadlines are coming for different projects and other assessments coming down the line.
But, there is good news. CAO applicants have loads of time to have their course choices decided.
The 20th January early bird deadline is an incentive for applicants to open up their CAO accounts early. The cost before 20th January deadline is €30 and after that is €45.
If you are not applying for restricted courses there is no need to even fill in your course choice lists. Thousands of applicants every year do not put any courses on their CAO list until the Change of Mind Facility opens in May.
So why the rush in January?
Well lots of applicants like to put down courses early so they have goals to aim for. Now they know what they have to do for their mocks and even what improvements they will have to make for June.
Other applicants like to have their course lists filled, done and dusted and not have to worry about CAO courses until after the LC is over, then they can log back into their account and double check the course list when all the work is done.
Despite not having course research to do it is important to login to you CAO account every so often to check correspondence from the CAO. This correspondence is also sent to your email as well. Generally, with correspondence from the CAO they are asking you to do something or check something with your account. One of the most important pieces of advice I can give to CAO applicants is NOT TO IGNORE ANY CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE CAO.
As long as you stay on top of this applicants show find the whole process very seamless.
