Keep a close eye on those important CAO 2012 dates

The CAO application season gets underway in earnest in January and continues until all the places have been allocated in October. Below is a pot-pourri of the dates, which all CAO applications should be aware of. * November 3: CAO online application opens * January 20: Apply by 5.15pm on this date to avail of the online discount rate of €30. You may continue to work on your application until February 1, 2012. * February 1: 5.15pm on this date is the normal closing date for applications. If you apply after 20th January, the standard fee of €40 must be paid. Print or save the screen receipt of acceptance of your online application. If you supply an e-mail address, an initial acknowledgement will be sent to you by e-mail. You may also confirm receipt of your application by logging on to the CAO website, www.cao.ie and using the “My Application” option. * February 5: An applicant, who made an error or omission in Restricted Application Courses or mature applicants who made an error or omission in their courses, may use the online Change Course facility from February 5. If you need to amend or add courses you may do so online no later than March 1. An additional processing fee of €10 must be paid by Credit/laser Card. All other applicants should use the Change of Mind option, between May 5 and July 1, to make any course changes. * March 1: completed online Higher Education Access Route (Hear)/disability Access Route to Education (DARE) forms must be submitted by 5.15pm. * April 1: HEAR/DARE supporting documentation must arrive in CAO by 5.15pm. * May 1: Late applications, accompanied by a fee of €60 for online applications or €80 in the case of paper applications will be accepted by the CAO up to 5.15pm on this date. Late application may not be made for restricted application courses. * May 31: Before the end of May, each applicant will be sent a Statement of Application Record to enable you to verify that all information has been recorded accurately. This document will contain a printout of the data,which the CAO computer has recorded about you. If there is any inaccuracy in the document, you should contact the CAO immediately. If the data is correct, you need do nothing. From May 5, you may, if you wish, register a change of course choices online at www.cao.ie. If you have supplied an email address, an acknowledgement of any change of courses will be sent to that email address. Check that your courses have been updated by using the “My Application” facility before July 1. * July 1: Course choices and preferences may be changed as often as desired, free of charge, up to 5.15pm on this date. If you submit a change of mind, it cancels and supersedes all the previous course choices, which you have submitted. You should note that choices in the two categories (Level 8 and Level7/6) are considered to be completely separate from each other for this purpose. Restricted application courses, which are added for the first time via a Change of Mind are invalid choices and will not be considered. * Early July 2012: In early July a small number of offers of places are issued to deferred applicants, mature applicants and to those who need to make visa arrangements. This process is referred to as Round A. * August 1: In early August offers of places are issued to certain non-standard categories of applicants. This process is referred to as Round Zero. * August 20: Round One, the issue of the main body of offers takes place a few days after the Leaving Certificate Examination results become available. At the same time as first round offers of places are issued to successful applicants, notices are sent to those who do not receive any offer. 49,408 applicants received at least one offer in Round One in 2011. As offers are issued independently in respect of the two categories of courses in the CAO system, a large number of applicants receive two offers. * August 29: Round Two, a second round of offers will be issued on this date to fill any remaining vacancies. A total of 58,261 applicants, in total, had received an offer after Round Two in 2011. Thereafter, offers will be issued as necessary until the end of October to fill any vacancies, which may arise.

Billy Ryle is a Career Guidance Counsellor and Writer