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Design points 2025

Design is offered at 10 colleges in Ireland, with entry points that differ widely between them. The CAO files it under arts.

Lowest entry point

112

across the last five years

Highest

416

a spread of 304 points between colleges and years

Easiest college, five years

-7

getting easier to get into

Some courses here are scored on a portfolio, an audition or an entrance test as well as points, and those figures can run past 625. They are left out of the three figures above, because they are not on the points scale. What that means.

Where it is offered, and what it took

Round one points for each college, year by year. A dash means the course did not run that year, or no figure was published. The last column is the change on the previous year the course ran, which for most is 2025 against 2024.

Some colleges appear twice below with the same course name. Where the level differs, one is an honours degree and the other is not, and the points differ accordingly. Where the level is the same, the college teaches on more than one campus and the CAO lists each under its own code, so the code is what tells them apart.

CollegeCourse20212022202320242025Change
Atlantic Technological UniversityDesign - common entry AU234· Level 7227
Atlantic Technological UniversityDesign - Common Entry AU330· Level 8318312-6
Atlantic Technological UniversityDesign - Common Entry AU519· Level 7254251241-10
Atlantic Technological UniversityDesign - Common Entry AU619· Level 8301
Atlantic Technological UniversityInterior Architecture and Design AU820· Level 7273270271+1
Atlantic Technological UniversityInterior Architecture and Design AU926· Level 8416401400-1
Galway-Mayo Institute of TechnologyDesign - Common Entry GA274· Level 7271270-1
Galway-Mayo Institute of TechnologyDesign - Common Entry GA284· Level 8331329-2
Griffith CollegeInterior Architecture & Design GC490· Level 7137AQA112203130-73
Institute of Technology, CarlowVisual Communications and Design CW047· Level 7241279+38
Institute of Technology, CarlowVisual Communications and Design CW088· Level 8270264-6
Institute of Technology, CarlowDesign CW707· Level 7241220-21
Institute of Technology, SligoInterior Architecture and Design SG331· Level 7222225+3
Institute of Technology, SligoPrecision Engineering and Design SG336· Level 7341273-68
Institute of Technology, SligoInterior Architecture and Design SG348· Level 8359356-3
Letterkenny Institute of TechnologyDesign - Common Entry LY408· Level 83013010
Limerick Institute of TechnologyArt and Design (Common Entry, portfolio) LC110· Level 8794#813#
Limerick Institute of TechnologyCreative Media and Design LC504· Level 7155161+6
Limerick Institute of TechnologyCreative Media and Design LC517· Level 8279253-26
South East Technological UniversityDesign (Visual Communications) SE201· Level 8283292301+9
South East Technological UniversityVisual Communications and Design SE204· Level 8346220235+15
South East Technological UniversityDesign SE209· Level 7257280308+28
South East Technological UniversityVisual Communications and Design SE210· Level 7305195214+19
Technological University of the ShannonArt and Design (Common Entry - portfolio) US800· Level 8#794#785#837#
Technological University of the ShannonB Ed Art and Design (Offered jointly by TUS and UL - portfolio) US801· Level 8#945#841#949#
Waterford Institute of TechnologyDesign (Visual Communications) WD137· Level 8252299+47

# beside a course, an interview, portfolio, audition or test is required. Beside a figure, that assessment is included in the number, which is why it can be above 625. * not everyone on that score was offered a place, so places were drawn at random among applicants on it.

Why some figures here are above 625

625 is the most anyone can score on Leaving Certificate points alone. The courses marked # above are assessed partly on a portfolio, an audition or an entrance test, and the published figure adds that assessment to the points. So it sits on its own scale and can run well past 625.

A figure of 900 does not mean 900 points. It means points plus a portfolio mark, and you cannot compare your own total against it. That is also why the calculator leaves these courses out when it works out what your points would have reached.

Reading this table

The spread here is 304 points, which is the most useful thing on this page. The same subject is far easier to get into at some colleges than others, so a total that misses one entry on this list can comfortably clear another.

None of these numbers is a threshold. Each is the points of the last applicant offered a place that year, so it describes where the queue was cut rather than a standard the college set. What moves them.