CAO (Central Applications Office) Leaving Cert points requirements have dropped this year, following a trend overall in lower requirements for third level courses this year.

As of this morning (Monday, August 21), 76,651 ‘Round One’ offers have been made to 52,374 CAO applicants. These offers are broken down into 43,113 Level 8 course offers and 33,538 Levels 7 and 6 course offers.

This year saw a change in the Leaving Cert marking system, leading to plenty of changes in requirements across the board.

Requirements for Agricultural Science in UCD dropped five points this year to 455 from last year’s requirement of 460. Meanwhile, also in UCD, Agri Environmental Science fell from 430 to 419 points.

Dairy Business, however, actually rose from 440 points last year to 451 points in 2017.

In Waterford, requirements for WIT’s Level 8 Agricultural Science course dropped from 400 to 389 points this year. Points for Agriculture (Level 7) in WIT also fell, from 370 last year, to 349 this year. WIT’s Level 7 Science (Agricultural, Applied Biology, Food, Pharmaceutical) rose to 357 – up from 315 last year.

In Dundalk, DKIT requirements for its Level 8 Agriculture (Agriculture/Agri-Food Production) are 341 – down form 355 points in 2016.

In IT Tralee, its Level 8 Agricultural Engineering course dropped from 335 last year to 320 points. ITT’s Level 8 Agricultural Science programme, however, rose all of one point on last year – to 346 points.

In Cork, CIT’s Level 7 Agriculture course also took a tumble to 292 points from 320 in 2016.

Limerick IT’s Level 7 course, Environmental Management in Agriculture, rose from 220 to 232 this year. Meanwhile, LIT’s Agricultural Mechanisation course (Level 7) is down to 217 from 225 last year.

In Galway, GMIT’s new Level 8 course Agricultural Engineering has a requirement of 305 points for its first year in action.

In Donegal, Letterkenny IT’s course – Agriculture (Level 7) – has a requirement of 216, down nine points on last year.