Official Ireland 2021 University applicant thread

I'm considering applying to medical schools in Ireland as well but I'm confused about the fees situation. Does anyone know how you pay for accommodation there? Do you pay out of pocket? Or is there a loan I can get if I got in? I'm so confused!!

Hey guys! I'm from England and applying for '21 entry (ideally Classics at Trinity), do you know if we qualify as international or EU students? (Oh you gotta love Brexit.)

If you're sitting four A-Levels (which you absolutely need to for medicine, or any competitive course), you need to sit all four in the same year, otherwise, the one you sat the previous year will just be ignored in the CAO points tabulation. This is because all Irish Leaving Cert students have to complete their exams in the final year of secondary school and allowing A-level applicants to spread out the course load would give them an unfair advantage. Your only solution really is to repeat Greek this year along with your other three A-levels. Students only presenting three A-levels in a given year can also present the highest AS grade (in which they are not continuing to A2 level) but this is not weighted as favourably as a fourth A-level, and really a non-option for medicine. The basic university matriculation requirements are reached through GCSE exams (just pass English, Maths and a language other than English), but that's it - your application will not be considered any more favourably even if you got a slew of 8s and 9s - your application is really decided by your A-levels. This also means that you need to have two of physics, chemistry and biology at A-level. And if you sit a Maths subject, you get a bonus of 25 CAO points. Finally, even if you have all of this, you need to come to Ireland to sit the HPAT exam in February, which constitutes a massive part of any medicine application. Here's a link explaining the process - http://www2.cao.ie/downloads/documents/2021/UGMedEntry2021.pdf

Thank you for your detailed answer. The Greek A level is 5th. I do triple science plus further maths.

Does anyone know if the HPAT is online this year because the HPAT ulster is online.

Hi I'm a gap yearer from England so I've already got my grades. I know I'm supposed to submit my certificates to CAO but am not sure when the deadline is?

Hi, I'm also a gap yearer from England. If you have certificates you need to get a photocopy stamped and signed by your school that you were at when you achieved them. This needs to be posted to CAO in Galway (the address should be on the site). Honestly I'm not sure when the actual deadline is but its better to get it off quicker just to be on the safe side. If you're like me and did October exams you may not have the actual certificates for those. What I did was draft a word document with my name, DoB and all the normal stuff which you would have on an actual certificate and emailed it to my school and asked them to stamp it, sign it and write that these were actually the grades that I had achieved (and that I didn't just make them up). They then posted this back to me rather than email as you don't really want to be sending photocopied stamped and signed things to CAO as they like to have the actual same piece of paper that the school signed and stamped. What are you applying to study and where?

Yes I've already had my GCSEs and some of my A-Levels stamped and signed by my school. Like you, I did the October exams but just for one of my subjects. Could you confim whether the October exams are valid for the CAO points? From my research, exams given in more than one sittings can't count towards the CAO points. So for example with my CAG grades from the Summer I receive 509 CAO points, however if my October result is valid I would receive 543 points. I'm just not sure whether the October result would be accepted. As you mentioned I haven't yet received the October exam certificate so are you sure just providing the result document also stamped and signed would be sufficient proof or would I have to wait for the certificate? Also do you know if CAO confirm the amount of points you've achieved because then I'd know whether the October result has been accepted? I'm applying for BESS at Trinity and the validity of that one grade towards CAO points would determine whether I get in or not.

In normal circumstances CAO would require that all of your grades come from one sitting, yes. However, this year the UK government has said that the October results are classed as being the same sitting as the summer grades. Ireland has done a very similar thing, with the only difference being that they sat their Leaving Cert in November rather than October, so results for that don't come out until Feb (similar to GCSE November sitting not coming out until Feb). CAO have confirmed to me in writing and by call that the October and summer results count as the same sitting and that you can use a mixture of both results in your application. When I asked previously about what they want me to send them in terms of proof of results they said they'll basically trust our word now but when the real certificates are available we need to get them signed and stamped and sent to them. The grades for every exam you submit to CAO (GCSEs and A Levels) will appear on your CAO account after the certificates have been recieved by CAO and processed so you will be able to see which GCSE grades are there, but I'm not 100% sure about whether the A Levels will appear as this whole thing is new because of covid.

I'm still trying to figure out how the government decided grades this year - with the summer grades I had 474 points and now after resitting all 3 A Levels I have 553, meanwhile my friend at a private school was achieving Cs and Bs all through Y12 and Y13 then was achieving Ds from Christmas Y13 until lockdown and during online school and somehow came out with an A?! They really messed up somewhere!

Oh that is relieving to hear! When I had contacted Trinity, they told me that it would be counted as a separate sitting but seeing as you spoke to CAO directly, since they oversee the allocation of points and the entire admissions process, I'll their word for it. Do you know when we might receive the October exam certificates? Also what are you applying for and where?

Just to clarify, I should send the copies to CAO with my CAO number and name written on every certificate or on the envelope? Do you they respond when they receive it or is it just a waiting game till August then?

Honestly I have no clue when we’ll get the October certificates. I imagine it won’t be before March as no ones really in school atm so they can’t sent it off. My best guess would be that the absolute earliest we can get them is after lockdown (whenever that is ). It might be a good idea to send one of those question things to CAO through your CAO account about certificates so that they have your circumstances on record.

CAO are using my info from last year, but from what I remember you send all photocopied certificates to CAO. Each certificate has to be signed and stamped by your school and also have your CAO number and name on it (there’s something on the CAO site once you’ve logged in under Q&A about the specifics but from what I remember this is what you need to do). I can’t remember them responding, but once it’s been processed (which will probably take longer because of covid) each subject and result for each level of education (GCSEs, A Levels, etc) will appear on your CAO login application.

It might also be worth contacting Trinity (or CAO about Trinity) and checking they do class October and summer results as being the same sitting. Trinity is grouped with Oxbridge so is a little different from other Irish unis so they may have slightly different rules but I don’t know.

I’ve applied to UCC for medicine

Hi everyone,

I'm Irish - on this website for help applying to UCAS this year, but only for backup options. If anyone has unanswered questions about the CAO, accommodation, etc., I'd be happy to help! I have about 574930 cousins who've gone through it and it's a cultural institution here so I knew quite a lot about it even before I filled out my application this year.

Hi, I'm living in England (with an Irish passport and 2 Irish parents) and applied to both UCAS and CAO. The UCAS deadline for Medicine/Veterinary/Dentistry courses and any courses at Oxford/Cambridge was in October, but if you're looking to apply to other courses the deadline is 29th Jan. I'm happy to try to answer any questions you have about UCAS and how it works.

I've applied to UCC as my number 1 in Ireland (and its also my first choice overall), but I live in England. I have an uncle who I'm very close to who lives in Cork city but I'm looking primarily to try to get accommodation for 1st year. I know in the UK almost everyone lives in accommodation rather than staying home if they can, is this the same in Ireland? Or is there a mix of people who stay home and those who live in accommodation? Also is there some kind of loan that will help cover accommodation fees? I'm eligible for the free fees thing where I only need to pay the contribution and capitation fees but I'm not eligible for the SUSI grant for accommodation and maintenance and such. I'm the oldest of 3 and looking to study Medicine (5 yr degree) one of my younger siblings is looking to start veterinary next year (5 yrs also) and the other is younger but likes the idea of Medicine/Science related degree, so as you can imagine it's gonna be a huge expense for my parents so its mostly down to us to figure out how to pay for uni and they'll help if needed. I know there are normal bank loans and such but they have such high interest rates and you have to pay them back monthly. Is there anything similar to what the UK government do where they give a loan and you only start paying it back when you start earning money post-uni?

Hi there you're so kind to offer, but I sent my application in back in October - I'm applying to Cambridge (for my sins!). Thank you so much though.

In Ireland, there's a very mixed bag when you're talking about accommodation. In first year, I would say that the overwhelming majority stay in "campus accommodation", i.e. accommodation owned by the university so it's exclusively students who live there. If you do come to Ireland, I'd strongly recommend to stay there for first year - great way of socialising, etc., particularly for you since I assume you won't know anyone.
Those who can't get campus for 1st Year (as far as I know, it's oversubscribed in most universities) also often stay in digs - there could be two or three students there, which leads to a really nice atmosphere when coupled with the family vibe of the whole thing.

Thanks to a culture of going to universities with geographic proximity in mind in Ireland, there will be some people who live in Cork or bordering counties and commute each day. But since UCC is one of Ireland's leading universities, you'll get a lot of students there who WANT to go there - as in they'll come from all over the country, so they won't be staying at home with Mam and Dad! Plus, even some students who live nearby will pay for campus. One of my cousins went to college about half an hour away from where he lived, but stayed in student accommodation just so he could properly enjoy the experience. What you will see, though, is a lot of students going home on weekends. Ireland's small, so there's a big thing of going home every weekend (getting the washing done and being fed properly being big encouragements to do so ). But Cork's an amazing city, plus you have family there, so I wouldn't let that put you off at all. Cork also isn't as connected as Dublin, so there could be a lesser amount of people doing the weekly commute.

I can't say I know of any specifically-accommodation loans - maybe get in touch with UCC and see if they can point you towards anything, but I've never heard of any. That doesn't rule anything out though, so maybe investigate a bit further.

Finally - that's a lot, alright! That must be a tough situation to get into, but remember before you start college that the university will more than likely be able to help if you ever get into serious financial difficulty.
As for loans, we don't have a setup in place similar to the UK. Because fees are relatively (?) cheap (?) here, I suppose they don't feel the need to intervene. What I would recommend is looking into the Credit Union. I'm not sure how viable it will be for you but since you own a Irish passport and will be using the money to pay for Irish university I'd say they'd look favourably on it. The CUs are basically a national organisation with local branches and as far as I know they can be really flexible when exploring repayment plans, etc. They're all "for the community!"-style stuff - maybe Google them and look into it.

I really hope I've managed to help in some way! Let me know if you want to hear more about something or anything