Routes into third level
Your qualifications and circumstances help determine the right application route. Compare QQI, mature entry, access schemes and qualifications from outside Ireland.
Each guide separates central CAO instructions from college-specific requirements. For the whole process, explore the CAO application and offers guides.
Mature nursing and midwifery: CAO entry for 2027
Separate CAO registration from the assessment process and identify the 2027 details still awaited.
Mature primary teaching: CAO application for 2027
The February application, supplementary form and college-specific requirements.
Applying to CAO with A levels: results and points
Submit GCE and GCSE results and understand the different third and fourth-subject scales.
CAO with international qualifications: how to apply
Choose the correct application route and check country-specific evidence and scoring.
CAO after previous study: transfers and direct entry
Declare earlier attendance and distinguish first-year entry from transfer and postgraduate applications.
The PLC and QQI route
How a PLC year converts into college entry, including the QQI scale that works out of 390 rather than 625.
Applying as a mature student
Applying at 23 or over, where points usually stop being the deciding factor.
HEAR and DARE
The two access routes, who they are for, and the paperwork that trips most applicants up.
Apprenticeships in Ireland
Earn while you qualify, at levels that now reach honours degree. The route nobody explains properly.
Which one applies to you
- 23 or over on 1 January of the year you would start: mature entry, where points usually stop deciding it.
- A disability, or a background the access schemes cover: HEAR and DARE, applied for inside your CAO application.
- Points did not land, and another exam year sounds unbearable: a PLC year, scored out of 390 on its own scale.
- You would rather be paid while you qualify: an apprenticeship, which is a job application rather than a CAO one.