Leaving Cert point requirements for the vast majority of third level ag-science courses have dropped this year, according to the Central Applications Office (CAO).
As of this morning (Monday, August 20), just over 50,000 students received an offer from one of 44 different third level college institutions.
Requirements for Agricultural Science at University College Dublin (UCD) dropped four points this year to 451 – down from 455 last year.
Meanwhile, also in UCD, Agri-Environmental Science fell from 419 to 397 points – down a significant 22 points.
Following this trend, Dairy Business at UCD now stands at 432 points – down 19 points from 451 in 2017.
At Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), the points requirement for its Level 8 Agricultural Science course also experienced a substantial increase from 389 to 403 points this year.
In the Institute of Technology, Carlow, points needed for entry to Sustainable Farm Management and Agribusiness (based in its Wexford campus) reduced from 307 to 270 this year.
At Dundalk Institute of Technology (DKIT) in Co. Louth, the requirement for its Level 8 Agriculture course reduced substantially from 341 last year, to 327 in 2018.
In Tralee Institute of Technology (ITT), the Agricultural Science course dropped from 346 last year, to 330 points this year.
At the Institute of Technology in Cork (CIT), its Level 7 Agriculture course also took a small tumble from 292 points in in 2017, to 289 points this year.
Elsewhere, Limerick Institute of Technology’s (LIT’s) Level 7 course on Environmental Management in Agriculture, rose from 232 points 12 months ago, to 233 this year.
Meanwhile, LIT’s Agricultural Mechanisation course (Level 7) is down from 217 last year, to 201 for the start of the next academic year.
Finally, at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), its Level 8 course in Agriculture and Environmental Management, based at the Mountbellew Campus, witnessed a drop of just one point in its requirement – from 302 in 2017, to 301 this year.