CAO 2024: UCD continues as Ireland’s university of first choice for Irish applicants

Posted 28 August, 2024

• 25% of all UCD’s offers are to applicants from DARE, HEAR, and other access routes

University College Dublin is making over 6,000 offers to study on its undergraduate degrees, with most offers being made through the (opens in a new window)Central Applications Office (CAO).

For the first time since the pandemic, new undergraduate students at UCD will have their welcome and orientation in the week before the academic term starts, taking advantage of the campus being less busy and the availability of higher year students to act as peer mentors, a vital support working with university staff to build a sense of belonging for the new students.

Also, this will be the first time since the pandemic that first year undergraduates will have a full first trimester of learning, alongside all other students studying at UCD.

With 37 undergraduate entry routes, alongside three graduate entry options in professional healthcare - DN301 Veterinary Medicine (Graduate Entry), DN401 Medicine (Graduate Entry), and DN411 Radiography (Graduate Entry), new undergraduate students will come to UCD to study on a wide range of degree programmes from science, technology, engineering, and maths, to health sciences, arts and humanities, social sciences, and business and law.

“We very much look forward to welcoming our new undergraduate students to UCD next week,” said UCD Registrar and Deputy President, (opens in a new window)Professor Colin Scott.

“We offer wide-ranging support for the transition to learning in a university setting, underpinning the formal learning within degree programmes, and also the wider opportunities engaging with our outstanding facilities and for personal development through participation in clubs, societies, representation of students, and volunteering.”

Among Irish applicants, UCD continues to be the most sought after university in the country.

With 9,965 CAO students choosing UCD as their first preference this year out of a total of 26,376 CAO applications to the university, UCD accounts for 13% of the total number of 1st preferences through the CAO. 

More than 25% of the offers made by UCD were to students applying through the DARE or HEAR schemes, or other access routes including mature students, University access and Open Learning students and QQI-FET candidates who have completed courses in further education.

Offers were also made to students from the UK and EU who also apply through the CAO and to applicants from outside the EU who apply directly to UCD.

“UCD is an increasingly diverse university, in terms of its student population, both nationally and internationally. This diversity enhances the quality of the learning and wider student experience, and also prompts us to universally design effective supports to meet changing student needs and to enable our students to flourish and thrive,” added Professor Scott.

The most sought-after course at UCD for 2024 is DN200 Science. 

DN400 Medicine, DN300 Veterinary Medicine, DN150 Engineering, DN650 Commerce, DN520 Art/BA Joint Honours, DN530 Humanities and DN700 Social Sciences also remained very popular.

For round one of the 2024 CAO, sixteen undergraduate entry courses at UCD have seen their points increase over 2023’s first round offers.

Several courses saw their points rise significantly, with DN541 Modern Languages increasing round one cut-off points from 307 to 398 and DN760 Education with Modern Languages/As Gaeilge increasing its points to 478 – up 47 on last year. 

Introduced last year, DN760 Education with Modern Languages/As Gaeilge is recognised and accredited by The Teaching Council of Ireland as an initial teacher education programme for post-primary teachers.

DN750 Social Policy and Sociology and DN520 Arts/BA Joint Honours saw similar increases to Education – each went up by more than 40 points, recording an increase of 42 and 41 points respectively.

More modest rises were seen in DN700 Social Sciences, which was previously 444 points in 2023’s first round offers but is now 468 points, up 24; and DN610 Business and Law, heightened demand for which has seen its points increase by 21 to 576.

In terms of increases in first preference choice for 2024, DN610 Business and Law represented the largest rise, seeing a 45.7% increase in first preferences compared to last year.

There was similar first preference interest in DN230 Actuarial and Financial Studies and DN670 Economics and Finance.

This year’s Round 1 offers saw three UCD programmes requiring over 600 points, with DN230 Actuarial and Financial Studies remaining on the same points (613*) as last year.

However, it is now one of four courses that are random selection for this first CAO round.

DN670 Economics & Finance, 618 in 2023, went up to 625 and continues to be UCD’s highest point degree for several years. It too is random selection in the 2024 first round offerings.

DN440 Biomedical, Health & Life Sciences saw its points fall, previously it was 601 and is now an even 600.

DN400 Medicine recorded a one-point decrease in its required points, now at 735.

This course’s points and allocation of places are based on a combination of the Leaving Cert Examination and HPAT-Ireland score. Increases in places for 2024 has assisted the management of demand.

For more information on UCD course entry requirements and places, please visit www.ucd.ie/lc

By: David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations

To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie