The number of points needed to be offered an Ag Science place on round 1 of the CAO third-level application process has jumped at UCD.
This year the first round requirement for Agricultural Science at UCD is 470 – up from 465 in the first round last year.
The points required for Animal Science (Equine) are 445 at UCD while those looking to get into Dairy Business will need have 445 also to be offered a place at UCD.
Outside of UCD the points for ag science courses include Agriculture Engineering at Tralee (325) and Agriculture at Waterford required at least 415 points to be offered a place on the first round.
It comes after the number of students who took Leaving Certificate Ag Science fell by just over 3% this year.
Figures from the State Examinations Commission show that 7,672 students sat either the higher level or ordinary level Ag science paper this year – down 3.2% on last year’s numbers.
The number of students who sat Agricultural Economics was 85 and nobody failed the higher-level agricultural economics exam. Of the 85 students who took the exam, 87% received an honours mark, and 10.6% received an A.