Know your college application dates.
Essential overview of college related deadlines, for Leaving Certificate and senior cycle students.
From the 5th November 2018 up to 20th January 2019: Open an application for a CAO college course and pay the early registration fee of €30. The CAO application process includes Irish Universities, institutes of technology, teacher-training colleges or private colleges,
Only your personal details and your qualifications are needed at this stage as specific courses choices can be added later. Note -Indicate if you intend to apply for a student grant by ticking the appropriate box. Applications for restricted courses need to be submitted by the 1st February while others can be added to applications up to 1st July 2019
Early November & up to 20th January 2019 Register for HPAT examinations. Essential if applying for undergraduate medicine.
HPAT-Ireland will take place on 23rd February 2019.
The registration fee to sit HPAT is €140.
February and March 2019 : Applications open for Further Education (FE) colleges and can be made directly to the college, usually via the college website. F.E. courses include 1 year, Post Leaving Certificate (plc) courses at level 5. On completion students can progress to a level 6 or move on to third level degree programmes. These courses are a great way of trying out a field of interest before committing to a full time, 3 or 4 year degree. In addition many plc courses are linked to degree programmes, through the Higher Education Links Scheme (HELS); providing a route into higher education that is not solely dependent on Leaving Certificate points
January and May/June: If you want to apply for university in the UK you must finalise your course list with Ucas by January 15th 2019. However 15th October deadline applies to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, or for most courses in medicine, veterinary medicine/science, and dentistry. Essential to UCAS applications is a personal statement as well as a reference from your teacher. Both of which will require some time to prepare. Irish students studying in Scottish Universities pay no fees. Annual tuition fees in Northern Ireland and Wales is between £3,500 and £4,500. Most English University fees are £9000 pa
EU deadlines vary, see eunicas.ie. Generally EU deadlines fall between March and June each year. European universities offer more than 1,100 undergraduate degrees across all disciplines, taught exclusively through English,
Fees range from €2,000 in the Netherlands to no fees in Germany and Scandinavian countries. Unlike in Ireland there are no points requirements. However students need to achieve specified minimum results (this can be as high as 75% ) in their first year examinations to be eligible to progress into second year.
May – Student Universal Support Ireland [SUSI] is Ireland's national awarding authority for all higher and further education grants. The SUSI application process opens in May. While SUSI is open to applications through to July 2019, applications made later in the process may not be processed until the end of the first college term. Therefore submit your SUSI applications as early as possible. N.B you do not have to have a college offer to make an application for grant funding.