CAO: Was that it?!

All year I was led to believe that my CAO application would change my whole world forever.

I’ll admit that last year, when word trickled down along the grapevine about the CAO crash that everyone is always so afraid of, I felt a stab of worry. Especially when friends told me they had spent five hours doing theirs. Not to mention that apparently a large chunk of people have their lives destroyed by the CAO because they can’t remember their dates of birth or whether they’re male or female. Oh, and have I forgotten that all year I’ve been led to believe that my CAO application will change my whole world forever?

As it turned out there was no crash. It was something of a CAOY2K situation. I turned on my computer, logged in and typed in my codes. And clicked submit (at 21:30, how nice of the folk at the office to send me an email telling me that). I felt nothing but a double serving of anticlimax. I didn’t take a photo for bebo as I clicked submit, I didn’t pause and stare into the distance and imagine my future, I didn’t wave farewell to my childhood. I clicked submit and then ate some pasta. And after doing so my world doesn’t seem to have been changed forever.

My advice for the CAO is to think about what you really want and ask yourself if you’ll be happy with it for the next five, ten, twenty or fifty years. Then research it. If you don’t think you can make the cut then look for a backdoor or suitable alternative. Your career counsellors are there for a reason. So too is the internet; be thankful you didn’t do the Leaving Cert in the stone age of the CAO when the only way to hear about a university was to have the seanchaí come by and tell you about it (pretty much any time before 1995).

By Christmas you should really know what direction you’re going and be considering whether to put jam making or Medicine in Trinity as your last option (because lets face it, most of us are more likely to end up in jam making).

Remember that you can change your mind up until the 1st of July. However, in my opinion, to change your CAO after the Leaving Cert is madness. Thinking you “so failed” your Irish exam isn’t a reason to back down on your life plan. Is anyone really rational about how they did in the Leaving Cert? Wait until August and work it out then. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Most of all don’t get caught up in the CAO hype. We make decisions about our futures everyday, this one just happens to be the multi-national corporation of life decisions. But go with your gut and you will make the right choice.

Oh, and don’t leave it until the last day. One of these years the website is going to crash.

By: Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin