Social Science points 2025
Social Science is offered at 5 colleges in Ireland, with entry points that differ widely between them. The CAO files it under welfare.
Lowest entry point
252
across the last five years
Highest
409
a spread of 157 points between colleges and years
Easiest college, five years
+9
getting harder 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.
| College | Course | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dublin Business School | Social Science DB566· Level 8 | 262 | 275 | 261 | 252 | 271 | +19 |
| Maynooth University | Social Science MH107· Level 8 | 390 | 350 | 320 | 318 | 348 | +30 |
| South East Technological University | Social Science SE920· Level 8 | – | – | 282 | 293 | 310 | +17 |
| University College Cork (NUI) | Social Science (Youth and Community Work,interview) CK114· Level 8# | – | – | – | 409 | 317 | -92 |
| Waterford Institute of Technology | Social Science WD187· Level 8 | 276 | 276 | – | – | – | 0 |
# 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 157 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.