With CAO offers issued yesterday, many students and their families have questions about the process and their next steps.
Here are answers to some of the questions submitted by followers of the RTÉ News Instagram account.
How long do you have to accept your first offer?
First round offers must be accepted by 3pm on Monday 13 September.
When will second round offers be made?
Round two offers will be made at 10am on Monday 20 September, and replies must be submitted before 3pm on Wednesday 22 September.
Round three offers will be made at 10am on Tuesday 28 September.
If you defer an offer are you guaranteed your place next year?
This can depend on the third level institution you're hoping to attend.
If you want to defer an offer, do not accept it. Instead you must email or write to the admissions office of the institution immediately.
You should give your name, CAO application number and the code of the course you want to defer, and explain why you want to defer. The letter or email should be cleared marked with 'Deferred entry' on the envelope or in the subject line.
It will then by up to the institution to let you know their decision.
If a deferral isn't granted, you may then accept offer for the current year, once you do so by the reply date.
Can you get a second round offer if you didn't get enough points for your higher choice?
Accepting a lower preference course in the first round doesn't prevent you from receiving an offer in a later round for a course that's higher up on your course choices list if you are deemed eligible.
If a place becomes available in a later round, and if you are entitled to this place, you may receive an offer which you can choose to accept or ignore.
Accepting the new offer will automatically cancel the previous acceptance.
However the likelihood of this will depend on how close you are to the points required for the higher course.
Why are points for courses rising?
There are increasing numbers of applicants for third level courses.
This year there were 85,000 applications to the CAO this year compared to 78,000 in 2020.
The rise is due to demographics and also increased applications from abroad, possibly due to Brexit.
Career guidance expert Brian Mooney said there are capacity issues following a "bumper" number of CAO applications this year.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said Minister for Higher and Further Education Simon Harris has tried to create extra places, but these places need to be in areas of really high demand in order to relieve the pressure.
