Sarah Bohan: CAO or UCAS? Why You Should Keep Your Options Open
Hi, I’m Sarah Bohan; a BSc (Hons) Language and Linguistics student from Wexford studying in Ulster University’s Belfast campus. The build up to my Leaving Certificate was the most stressful period of my life, but applying to both UCAS and CAO really helped in so many ways.
In fifth year, one of my main sources of anxiety was the possibility of point inflation. Walking out of my final exam, I would have no idea if my course would be in my points bracket, no matter what I speculated I got (I was right to worry – between me starting fifth year and my results coming out in 2022, the course at the top of my CAO application shot up a whopping 50 points).
However, with UCAS what you see is what you get. There is no point inflation. Based on predicted grades provided by your teachers and a personal statement (and maybe a portfolio or interview depending on the course) you will be made an offer before the exams. This also means that if you don’t get your top choice, there is time for the University to make you a change of course offer to something similar but with lower points. For example, I applied for Speech and Language Therapy, was told in May I wasn’t accepted and was immediately offered my current course as it had the most similarities and would be a great pathway into a Master’s degree in SALT.
There are so many pros for each system. CAO gives you options in ROI, it’s a simpler process as you just need to rank the courses you ant in order of preference, and you can apply to multiple courses. UCAS has a focus on suitability for careers, you can go anywhere in the UK, most degrees are a year shorter, the cost of university is covered by student finance, as well as all the other benefits I mentioned earlier. Why limit yourself to just one system? Why not check out what’s on offer in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK? By keeping your options open, you have a much better chance of scoring your dream degree.
