Students’ interest in studying veterinary medicine dropped by 18% this year compared to last year, according to the Central Applications Office (CAO).
A total of 683 CAO applicants chose veterinary medicine on their application this year. Out of the total, 477 placed the course as their first choice, which was also down a further 18% on last year.
At the moment, University College Dublin (UCD) is the only third-level institution in Ireland where veterinary medicine students can study.
It offers 82 places on the five-year course, and the CAO point range for 2022 was 601-625 points. Other entry requirements include at least a H5 in Chemistry and O6/H7 in English, Irish, Maths, and a third language.
Members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine have called for a background in agriculture to be considered as an entry route to veterinary medicine.
There were also decreases in interest for studying courses mentioning veterinary, such as veterinary nursing.
A total of 1,959 applicants chose Level 8 courses surrounding veterinary for their CAO. This was down 14% on last year.
Out of these applicants, 876 of these students chose veterinary courses as their first option, down 17% on last year.
A further 3,377 applicants chose a Level 7/6 course mentioning veterinary. This is down 11% on last year.
From this figure, 1,124 out of the total chose veterinary as their first choice, down 8% on last year.
Studying agriculture
Students with courses surrounding agriculture as their first choice increased slightly this year compared to last year.
A total of 2,405 people chose Level 8 courses mentioning agriculture for their CAO application, which is up 3% compared to 2022.
Out of the total, 485 had a course in agriculture as their first option, which is up 16% on last year.
A further 2,314 people chose a level 7/6 course mentioning agriculture, which is down 6% on the same period last year.
Although the overall figure was down, students which had agricultural courses as their first choice out of the total stood at 840, which is an increase of 4% compared to last year.