Galway Advertiser 2004/2004_08_26/GA_2608_E1_036.pdf 

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EDUCATION

August 26 2004

Marie Barrett from Marie Barrett Career Services Loughrea offers some advice to students who have received, or are waiting for offers from the CAO.

Dealing with CAO offers
Accepting Your CAO Offer
To those students who have received a CAO Offer or Offers Congratulations. www.cao.ie is the website the majority of students use to accept their offers. The closing date is 5.15pm on Tuesday. Those using the CAO website to accept their course offer online must remember to print out a receipt of their acceptance. Students who post in their CAO acceptance must remember to get a Certificate of Posting at their post office. The place for this is printed on the inside cover of the CAO Handbook 2004. Two working days in advance of the closing date should be allowed when posting their acceptance. on your original CAO application form. Should it be location rather than course itself, then visit that college or colleges in the coming days. Talk to the college concerned about your course. Parents need to accompany students on such a visit, for going to college is truly a family affair. If parents and students can be happy about a course and a location, then there is a much stronger chance that the student will succeed on a course. Should finance be an issue for a student, then maybe deferring a course for one year in order to earn money to allow a student take-up a course, particularly should it be away from home, may also be an option some students may take. Going to college is expensive. laid out in the CAO Handbook 2004, Page 5. The majority of colleges will consider a deferral. A limited number of colleges such as the Royal College of Surgeons will not. Always ask. To seek a deferral a student must act IMMEDIATELY. The student writes to the admissions office of the college from which they have received a course offer. This letter must arrive in the admissions office at least two days befor the reply date shown on their offer notice. It is also a valuable experience for a student to re-check their examination scripts, should they be considering repeating their Leaving Certificate. That way a student will understand far more the process of the exam itself. For most students it should contribute significantly to the improvement that a student may make, should they repeat that subject examination. Students generally receive the results of their exam re-checks in the first week of October. Should there be a change in the results that a student receives, then that student will be offered the course that they would have been offered, should they have had the re-checked results in August. A student may then accept the new course offer or decide to hold onto the course they have already started. In a small number of cases, colleges may request that a student defer their new course offer to the following year. This is something a student needs to discuss carefully with informed parties. contact basis after the second round. are: Carlow Institute of Technology: BA Honours in Communications & Public Relations B Sc Honours in Computer Games Development Limerick Institute of Technology: Bachelor of Arts in eOffice Administration Systems Bachelor of Science in Renewable & Electrical Energy Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering Higher Certificate in Business in Front Office Management

Vacant Places
Again, keep checking www.cao.ie. Vacant Place Offers are courses that individual colleges have not filled on current year applicants. So these courses are now readvertised. A student may decide to apply for a vacant place offer, should they not be happy with the CAO Offer that they have recieved, either in location or content. A student may also apply for a Vacant Place, should they not have received a CAO Offer. And a student, who may not even have applied on the CAO at all this year, may also apply. This is of particular relevance to students who may have failed a first year in college and who believe that they may either be on a wrong course or location. Students will be required to have the correct course requirements. Points will still decide the final offering of a course, but a student will have a clear opportunity for a second change application. Currently many courses in GMIT, Castlebar Campus, are being offered on vacant place offers. These are in business, tourism, heritage studies, construction and computing. The Vacant Place List will be updated each day.

Viewing Exam Scripts
Students may now view their examination scripts. The request to do so had to be with their school on or before Tuesday last. The dates for viewing their scripts is Friday September 3 and Saturday September 4. Only students themselves can view their scripts. This will happen in their own school. A student is allowed to bring in one person to help them access their examination script. This may be a different person for each exam script and it is recommended that the person who does accompany the student has a clear understanding of the content and the marking of each subject. This process allows a student to consider whether they should request to have a subject re-checked. September 8 is the closing date for receipt of appeals applications for rechecking of exam results.

Repeating Leaving Certificate
Repeating the Leaving Certificate is an option a certain number of students are considering right now. Initially it can appear a difficult decision for a student and their family, but with the correct advice and support, repeating the Leaving Certificate has proven to be a most successful option for many students. Accepting a course in college, just for the sake of `going to college' can lead to much regret and difficulty in future college years. A student succeeds best in college, when they see themselves to be on a course they believe in, in a college they are proud of, and that they are beginning with a Leaving Certificate that represents their best efforts. Undealt with disappointing Leaving Certificate results can burrow into the heart of a student, holding them back from later achieving their full potential. It is far, far better to deal now with all issues surrounding a student's current situation. Always seek experienced and

Unsure About CAO Course Offer
Should students now question their happiness at accepting the course or courses they have been offered - my advice is to take your time. Remind yourself why you originally placed that course or those courses

Deferring a CAO Course Offer
A student may request to defer their CAO Course Offer for one year. The decision to allow a deferral is always at the discretion of the college involved. Students need to follow, in detail, the guidelines for seeking a deferral as

COURSE COMMENCING SEPTEMBER 2004
CERTIFICATE IN COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGY & THERAPY
One Year Part Time Home Study Course For details send large SAE to: Counselling Association of Ireland Newpark Adult Education Centre PO Box 6989, Blackrock, Co Dublin Postal enquiries only please Early application strongly advised

Second Round CAO Offers
Round Two offers will be posted on Thursday September 2. These offers will also be availabe on the CAO website, www.cao.ie from 6.00 am on Friday 3. The acceptance procedure will be the same as for a first round offer. The reply date for accepting a second round offer is Wednesday September 8. Further CAO Offers will be made on a daily

Direct Entry Courses
These are courses that have just been advertised by individual colleges. Students may apply for these, outside of their CAO Application Courses. Students apply directly to the individual colleges. Again check CAO website links to individual colleges to keep up to date on this listing. Two of the colleges currently advertising new courses

Certified Payroll Technician
Payroll Qualification

Mercy College, Galway City "educating for the future"
Applications are invited for the following PLC Courses:

The Only Nationally Recognised Payroll Qualification Classes commencing September One Evening per Week Carlow, Newbridge, Arklow, Enniscorthy, Wexford and Other Venues Nationwide Distance Learning Option Also Available For Further Details Please Contact: Irish Payroll Association, 82 Upper Leeson Street, Dublin 4 Tel: (01) 667 70 70 Email: courses@ipass.ie

COURSES IN HORTICULTURE
ENROLLING NOW IN GALWAY ONE DAY A WEEK Royal Horticultural Society General Examination in Horticulture For further information please contact: eleonora@dsh.ie www.dsh.ie Tel: 094 9649943 All courses run by Dublin School of Horticulture

informed advice and support in making this decision. This ensures that a student will be enabled to reset academic goals and to understand and reach their individual potential in a more positive way. Seeking the right advice also sees that correct decisions are made in relation to where a student is best suited to study for their repeat Leaving Certificate. And most of all it ensures that the best and the right range of subjects are chosen to enable the student to achieve stronger and more confident results in a repeat Leaving Certificate. Once a student has achieved the required grade in a particular subjects then, for most colleges and courses, a student is not required to take that subject again. This allows a student to choose new and stronger subjects, suited both to the student and to their successful completion in one academic year. Given the right teaching programme and experience this has been possible for many students, allowing some to take-up one, two, three new subjects. But again, this can only be achieved under experienced guidance and support. For many students, such a decision has allowed them freedom to blossom and grow towards the fuller student they have always believed themselves to be. Learning how to study and being supported in such study, together with the setting of confident career and academic goals, has transformed many students. Points are calculated from the best six subjects taken in one sitting of the Leaving Certificate. It is requirements that can be combined. For many students repeating the Leaving Certificate mayprove to be the best `second-chance' they may ever give themselves in life. Marie Barrett is founder of Marie Barrett Career Services Loughrea. She is author of The Education Guide. She contributes to national and local radio on education and careers. Individual student and parent appointments can be booked with MBCS on (091) 841424 or at info@mbcs.ie. MBCS website is www.mbcs.ie where full details of MBCS Services are outlined.

CHILDCARE
Accredited by FETAC

TOURISM AND TRAVEL
Accredited by FETAC and IATA/UFTAA
(International Air Transport Association & the Universal Federation of Travel Agents Association.) Full Time and Part Time Courses.

Website: www.ipass.ie IILT SEEKS

EXPERIENCED ESL TEACHERS
FOR GALWAY CITY.
Application form available from info@iilt.ie. Alternatively contact ELT Co-ordinator, IILT, 126 Pembroke Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 or fax 01 6643726. Closing date for applications is Monday 6th September 2004. A panel of suitably qualified teachers will be established from which further appointments arising will be made.

BUSINESS AND INSURANCE
Accredited by FETAC & The Insurance Institute of Ireland.
Full Time and Part Time Courses.

For more information contact:

Mercy College, Newtownsmith, Galway City.
Phone 091 566595. Fax 091 569004. Email: msm@eircom.net Web: www.mercygalway.ie