McCullagh Careers

Reminder

New applications for the SUSI Grant 2024/ 2025 priority closing date is Thursday 11th July.

Get your application in now in order to get your financial support as soon as possible when the college year starts!

CO Nationwide Now Open:🎉 NOW OPEN! 🎉

Get ready, everyone! The 2024 Clerical Officer competition for the Civil Service is now open! 🚀 This is your chance to dive into a fantastic career in the Public Sector! 🌟

Imagine working in one of the main Government Departments or one of the many State Offices. The work you'll be doing touches all aspects of Irish life, making every day exciting and meaningful. 🌍✨

Ready to make a difference? Click the link to apply now! 👉
https://bit.ly/FB_Org_CO2024



Don’t miss this epic opportunity to start an amazing career! 💼🙌

Best of luck to all the students starting their exams tomorrow!

The hard work is done now. Give them your best and try not to worry about the rest.

Remember, you've got this!

It will all be over soon.

Did you know?

There are a wide variety of Post Leaving Cert (PLC) courses available nationwide.

PLC’s are becoming a very popular option for students with approximately one in four now choosing a PLC course after school.

There are many reasons for choosing a PLC course, including:

1. PLC’S offer the chance to sample an area of interest and gain work experience before committing to a degree.

2. They prepare students very well for further study in that area.

3. PLC courses develop students’ key skills essential for further study and working like, including independent learning, communication, IT, and teamwork.

4. They are a great back up option for students who may struggle to get the CAO points required for their chosen course.
There is a quota of college places on lots of CAO courses reserved each year for students who use their QQI FET/FETAC results from PLC courses to apply for CAO courses.
For example, Maynooth University has 175 places on their arts degree for students presenting QQI FET/ FETAC results.

5. There are no fees and students can apply for the SUSI grant if eligible.

Friday thoughts...

The perfect time to begin is now.

Your CAO application...

Some tips on how to choose the right course for you!

Remember you have plenty of time. The CAO Change of Mind facility is open until 5pm on the 1st July.

CAO Correspondence in May.

All CAO applicants will be sent a Statement of Application email before the end of May.

This is a very important email!

The purpose of the email is to verify that all your information has been recorded correctly on your CAO account.

It is your responsibility to check your details and ensure they are correct.

If your details are not correct and you do not follow the instructions immediately, there could be serious consequences for you at offer stage.

You must click the 'Confirm' button to indicate you have checked your details and they are correct.

If you do not receive the Statement of Application record email by 1st June you must contact CAO immediately.

Did you know?

The Naughton Scholarships are open for application and the deadline for application is midnight on the 28th June 2024.

A Naughton Scholarship is currently worth €20,000 (€5,000 for each year of a four year undergraduate degree) or €15,000 for a three year degree.

Each year 36 students are awarded Naughton Scholarships.

There is at least one winner from each County in the Republic of Ireland.

The scholarship is intended as a reward and encouragement to exceptional students who would like to study in the STEM field (science, technology, engineering and maths) at University. The school of each winning student also receives a prize for the schools science labs.

Students must be sitting examinations in at least two of the following Leaving Certificate subjects - Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Physics and Chemistry, Biology, Engineering, Agricultural Science, Technology and Design and Communication Graphics.

Please note that in general scholarship recipients to date have received in excess of 500 CAO points in their Leaving Certificate examinations.

For more information and to apply:

https://www.thenaughtonfoundation.com/

Reminder!!!

Don't forget to reply to your UCAS offers.

Reply dates are based on when UCAS get the last decision in from your unis or colleges.

Check your application to see your personal deadline.​

If you receive your last decision on or before 16 May 2024, your reply date is 6 June 2024 (except if you're using Extra to find a place).

If you receive your last decision on or before 17 July 2024, your reply date is 24 July 2024 (including Extra choices).

These are the types of reply you can make:

- Firm acceptance – this is your first choice

- Insurance acceptance – the back-up choice to a conditional firm acceptance

- Decline – you'll need to decline any other offers you get

However, if you decide you don't want to accept any of the offers, you can decline them all and add more courses using the Extra service.

Extra is another chance for you to gain a place at college. If you used all five of your choices on your original application and you’re not holding an offer, you’ll be able to add another choice using Extra. It is open since the 28th Feb. and closes 4th July.

For more info on UCAS Extra:

https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/after-you-apply/types-undergraduate-offers/extra-choices

Alternatively, you can see what courses still have vacancies later on using the Clearing service. Clearing is how colleges fill any places they still have on their courses.

Clearing is available from the 5th July until the 21st October. There were over 30,000 courses in Clearing last year.

For more info on UCAS Clearing:
https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/clearing-and-results-day/what-clearing

Important dates for the diary!

The CAO Offer and Acceptance Schedule for 2024 is now available.

For more info:

https://www.cao.ie/?page=timetableevents&bb=importantdates

Did you know?

The CAO Change of Mind Facility opens in 12 days.

This facility is free of charage and enables CAO applicants to log in and add, delete or change the order of preference of their course choices (restrcitions apply).

Review these top ten tips to ensure you complete your application fully and accurately:

1. Submit course choices in order of preference and not points!
It is so important that you select courses based on what you are interested in rather than the points score required.

2. Make sure to include your dream courses regardless of points.
Points go and down every year. Make sure to include your top 3 or 4 dream courses in your highest preferences. You do not want to find yourself in the position in August where you have the points for a particular course, but you didn’t add it to your list and therefore cannot be offered it.

3. Include realistic courses that you feel are within your points range.
As well as having your dream courses submitted, it is also important to include a list of realistic courses that you are confident of getting. This ensures that you will have an offer in August.

4. Add level 8 (if eligible) and level 7 / 6 course choices.
There are 1178 level 8 courses and 417 level 7/ 6 courses in the CAO system so there is plenty of choice. You can add 20 courses to your application. One list does not impact on the other list. It is like two applications in one. In August, you may receive an offer from each list, and you can simply accept the one you prefer and delete the other.

5. Check that the CAO course codes are correct and in the correct order.
It is too late to contact CAO at offer stage to correct this. You must do it now.

6. Check that all your other details are correct including personal details and qualifications & assessments.

7. Try to use up as many of your ten choices on each list as you can.

8. Only add courses that you are genuinely interested in and could see yourself studying in September. Remember many students are offered their 4th or 5th highest preference course so give as much consideration to these as you do to your 1st and 2nd preference.

9. Do not add a course choice without researching it fully first. Course content, entry requirements, etc.

10. Delete courses that you are no longer interested in.

Best of luck with your application!

SUSI’s virtual Information Event takes place on Monday, 13 May 2024 at 7pm.

This event is ideal for anyone who plans to attend further or higher education in 2024/25 and wants to know more about student funding.

On the day SUSI will explore the types of funding available, look at the eligibility criteria, the application process and their expert team will be on hand to answer any questions potential applicants may have.

Location: Virtual Event on Microsoft Teams

Places are limited so register at [email protected] by 10am on Thursday, 9 May 2024.