On its 50th year in operation, CAO releases 2026 course choices data accompanied by data on significant milestones in the organisation’s history.
The 2026 data shows applications by course classification, course level and by applicant address.
CAO received 88,817 applications by February 1 deadline.
Most CAO applicants will be permitted to use the Change of Mind facility when it opens on May 5 to add, remove or re-order course choices, which will result in changes to the figures released today. Late applications are also being accepted up to May 1 at 5pm.
The mission of the CAO is to be the leading provider of centralised application processing services into higher education in Ireland; since it was established, over 1.5 million students have taken up places in third-level institutions.
Speaking about the organisation’s establishment, General Manager of CAO, Joseph O’Grady said: “CAO offers a high degree of convenience to applicants and their advisors. It also offers considerable economies and efficiencies to Higher Education Institutions in filling their course places.
“Fairness and transparency are the foundations of the system, as well as equality of treatment for both applicants and participating Higher Education Institutions”.
For CAO’s first intake in 1977, there were 14,845 applicants. Five HEIs were participating (UCC, UCD, UCG, St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and Trinity College Dublin), with 69 courses in total on offer.
The organisation has seen significant changes and technological advancements since 1976, with the 1990s seeing the addition of Regional Technical Colleges, Colleges of Education and Private Colleges, bringing the number of participating institutions to 45 at its highest point.
The number of HEIs has reduced in recent years due to mergers, amalgamations and the recent establishment of technological universities.
In 1992, the HEI Common Points Scale was introduced by the participating Higher Education Institutions to provide a common approach to Leaving Certificate admissions. This was complemented by the CAO’s central evaluation software which helped to further streamline the admissions process.
“All too often, CAO is incorrectly conflated with or used as shorthand for the Common Points Scale established by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to facilitate their admission decisions. The essence of the CAO is the fair and transparent way applications, offers and acceptances are processed, and the order of preference system” added Mr O’Grady.
In 2000, the CAO’s application form went online, almost completely replacing the paper application process within the space of a few years.
As the CAO was initially developed with Irish Leaving Certificate applicants in mind, over the years the increasing demand from other cohorts of applicants has seen centralised scoring and resources developed for GCE and QQI Further Education applicants.
Over the last number of years, a significant increase has also been seen in applications from EU applicants wishing to study at an Irish Higher Education Institution.
CAO also processes applications for mature applicants aged 23 years and over, applicants presenting other further education qualifications, and applicants who wish to apply for the HEAR and DARE supplementary admissions schemes. So far this year, there have been 7,249 mature applicants applying, 13,870 applicants indicating that they wish to be considered for the DARE scheme and 8,107 applicants indicating that they wish to be considered for the HEAR scheme. These figures are subject to change when the supporting documents are received and processed by CAO.
