Q WHAT are the HEAR and DARE clinics taking place in January and is it essential that I attend if I am applying for one of these schemes?

THE HEAR and DARE programmes allow CAO applicants who are considered educationally disadvantaged, or who have a disability or a specific learning difficulty, respectively, to enter courses on reduced points, subject to a competition for the places available through these schemes. It acts as a back-up to the standard application.

Each January, higher education institutions across the country hold HEAR and DARE advice clinics. They represent an excellent opportunity for anyone considering making such applications to seek advice or discuss their particular application with college staff who specialise in this area.

These applications can cause concern to the applicants and their families, who worry if the information they are including is correct and if they have missed anything.

The clinics allow applicants to show their documentation to advisors, discuss with them if their circumstances meet the indicators for their scheme and generally be reassured about the process. These clinic are certainly worth attending as rules around HEAR and DARE are very strict, and rightly so, and if the CAO does not receive the correct information by the deadline the application will not be successful.

The dates and locations for the various clinics are available on the accesscollege.ie website.