{"id":656725,"date":"2026-08-26T02:59:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T02:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/656725\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T02:59:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T02:59:30","slug":"restricted-courses-its-difficult-when-everyone-around-you-is-going-oh-youll-get-in-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/656725\/","title":{"rendered":"Restricted courses: It\u2019s difficult when everyone around you is going, \u2018oh, you\u2019ll get in\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Lydia Day applied for a restricted course through the CAO<\/a> in 2025, she was hopeful she\u2019d have the opportunity to pursue her dream course, having met the additional selection criteria required in advance of the CAO offers. <\/p>\n

But when the CAO offers were made, she learned she hadn\u2019t reached the points necessary and was left understandably disappointed.<\/p>\n

Day found out in May 2025 that she had been successful at the interview stage of the restricted course. \u201cI was delighted, because not everyone gets invited for interview. And I was really happy, because I think it\u2019s a great way to understand the students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Approaching the Leaving Certificate<\/a> was still \u201cpretty stressful\u201d, she says, despite this knowledge. \u201cHalf the points you get are based on your portfolio. It was kind of stressful, because it was like, \u2018well, I could score very well on my portfolio, but I may not have the points for my Leaving Cert to make up the amount of points that I need to get in.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Leaving Cert results were issued, Day was still hopeful, but was also concerned, she says, and tried to adjust her expectations accordingly. When she didn\u2019t receive an offer to study her restricted course, and the disappointment subsided, her focus turned to other ways to achieve her goal. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve recently just completed a PLC, and I\u2019ve reapplied through the CAO again,\u201d she says. And in some ways, she concedes, it was all for the best. \u201cI\u2019m kind of glad that I didn\u2019t get the course straight away either, because I went and did this PLC course in Dublin College, D\u00fan Laoghaire. That was great, and it was a great year to socialise, and there was a lot of portfolio building in that course as well, which really, really helped.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a really nice experience and I\u2019m glad I had it in the end, because I think going from school to an immediate four-year course, I don\u2019t know whether I would have been any better off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though \u201cobviously I want to get into the course now. I got my portfolio scores back after the interviews in May, and they were quite good \u2013 I did better than I did last year,\u201d she says, crediting the PLC with her improvement. <\/p>\n

The stress as she waits for Wednesday\u2019s first-round offers continues to be real, though. \u201cThe waiting game is not pleasant. It\u2019s difficult when everyone around you is going, \u2018oh, you\u2019ll get in. You\u2019ll get in. We\u2019re praying for you\u2019, and all that kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there is a bit of worry about letting people down who are willing her on, she admits. She\u2019ll be keeping a close eye on her email on Wednesday. \u201cRestricted courses involve an additional selection process, such as an interview, portfolio, aptitude test or written test along the course\u2019s academic requirements\u201d, David Drury, head of the guidance counselling department at Blackrock College, says.<\/p>\n

Students typically apply for restricted courses earlier in the CAO process, he says. And it is often not possible to add restricted courses during later CAO \u201cchange of mind\u201d windows. Except, on occasion, where there is an overlap between the additional selection requirements for a desired course, and another course for which the student has already applied.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompleting the interview or additional portfolio stage does not itself guarantee a place\u201d, Drury says, adding that applicants must still meet the course minimum requirements. <\/p>\n

The awarding of places varies, he says. \u201cSome courses combine Leaving Cert points with marks from an interview or portfolio. While others rank eligible applicants on the assessment scores\u201d.<\/p>\n

All is not lost, however, if applicants don\u2019t receive an offer for a restricted course during round 1 of the CAO offers. \u201cThey may be still considered in later CAO rounds if a place becomes available and they are eligible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drury says he\u2019s also encouraged students to consider alternative pathways \u201cincluding related courses, further education, QQI routes, apprenticeships, tertiary degrees, available places or reapplying the following year\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Lydia Day applied for a restricted course through the CAO in 2025, she was hopeful she\u2019d have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,14331,18,19,17,12550,12551,1420,12548],"class_list":["post-656725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-cao","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-leaving-certificate","tag-second-level","tag-students","tag-third-level"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117159576387719395","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}