As a specialist in advice-giving, teaching career classes and counselling with pupils one-on-one, Ciara Downey – a guidance counsellor at Limerick's Mungret College – is privy to the ethos of Leaving Cert students.

“It's really important that students do their research," she notes “Sometimes students come in with courses thrown down as options, and when you question them about it, they know very little. It's so easy to get information these days – you just go on to the college website. You can read about courses, look at the modules that you'd study over the four years, and examine the job prospects.

"It's important to try to have a chat with somebody that's on the course, or see if you can get in contact with a lecturer, go to the open days. Every year it comes out that students don't understand the whole idea of putting things in order of preference on their CAO.

"You still have students putting things in order of points, or wanting a course, but saying, 'I'm not gonna get the points, so there's no point in wasting a spot'. If it's the dream course, it should be up there as your number one. I encourage students to fill out as many options as possible – you've 10 on the level 8 side, 10 on the level 6/7 side."

Ciara also has some advice for the students who aren’t too sure what they want to do post-Leaving Cert.

“Spending time on figuring what you want to do is really important, as important as studying for your exam," she says. "We use the website careers portal in our school, where there are free tests you can do. There’s also an interest profiler that's excellent, which links you with certain careers and courses. It can be a really good starting point for students.

“If they really don't know what they want to do, finding something they really enjoy studying, and seeing if there's something related to that, can be helpful. If someone says, 'I really love Spanish, or I really love English', I’d suggest an arts degree, because it's really, really broad.

"It allows you to still study those two subjects that you love. What do you do at the end of it? The world’s your oyster! Keep it broad – all the colleges have guidance services as well."

In 2025, with more and more options and routes being established, tertiary degrees, PLCs and apprenticeships are some examples of pathways rapidly gaining popularity amongst students.

“The tertiary degrees are amazing and such an exciting opportunity," says Downey. "You don't need the points. You still need to get your basic entry requirements, two H5s and four O6s , but you have an interview, and the stress and pressure of the Leaving Cert points are taken away. You still end up with the exact same degree as somebody who's gone through the CAO route. It's really fantastic for anyone worried about their points.

"If that course is available for them through the NTO, they should be applying for that as well. You don't have to pay the fees through the tertiary programs, so what you're saving in fees, you could put towards accommodation. It opens up more options for students.
There’s a multitude of options for students in terms of PLCs – they can be good if students don't want to make that four year commitment into a degree."

Ciara also outlines further options.

"They could do a one-year course and take that time to figure it out, while still getting a qualification," she continues. "You can go straight out into the world of work, or you can progress later if you want to. There's pathways into everything.You have apprenticeships as well, and there's so many new ones coming on board.

"We've kinda moved away from it just being trades and practicals. There are insurance and accounting ones. There's sales, retail, hairdressing – so many opportunities for students through an apprenticeship."

Highlighting how academic journeys may take many unexpected twists and turns, Downey speaks about her own experience.

“I actually went to the UK to do a course after my Leaving Cert," she reflects. "I applied to the UCAS system, I went to the UK, and I didn't even make it to a lecture. I was so homesick that I straightaway got in contact with UL. I had a spot on the CAO in UL as well, and asked them if it would be possible to take up the place I had turned down initially. They said yes.

“I went into business in UL for four years, and then straight after, I went into the PME. It was called the graduate diploma in education at the time. It was a GDE in business to become a business teacher, and that was a one-year course in UL. Then I went out teaching, and after a few years, I went back to UL again, to do a master's in guidance counselling."

As indicated by former Minister for Education Norma Foley, post-pandemic grade inflation measures are set to be reduced from 2025 onwards. Now, for the third year running, a post-marking adjustment has been implemented to ensure that results are on par with previous years. Downey maintains that students should not be concerned.

“They shouldn’t get too hung up on it," she says. "When inflation happens, the points go up. If the inflation comes down, we expect to see the points for courses come down. It shouldn’t have a huge impact on them. I would look at what the points were for the 2024 students, and use that as my guide as to what I'm working towards, or my goal points-wise."