CAO and lottery system

In conversation with a colleague recently they mentioned their child was interested in a field of study which is generally over subscribed & results in a lottery system to allocate places.

I said this & then suggested it would be worth having a back up plan / alternate route in the event they weren't successful in the lottery.

I was told there'd be no problem at all as their relative was Head of XY Department at ABC University, and it wasn't what you know its who you know.

Whilst I understand this is frequently the case in Irish culture, I was pretty shocked at the inference that the CAO system was open to influence.

I wonder if this is really the case or was this just pub talk?

I thought the lottery was by CAO not the colleges?

DannyBoyD said:

Whilst I understand this is frequently the case in Irish culture,

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Compared to countries where the vast majority of humans live, Ireland is not that corrupt.

DannyBoyD said:

I was pretty shocked at the inference that the CAO system was open to influence.

I wonder if this is really the case or was this just pub talk?

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Sound like the latter. As I understood it the CAO is just a sorting algorithm and HEIs are just given a list of who’s been admitted.

Although I remember a guy (late 90s) who did a bad Leaving Cert and got no CAO preferences. He directly applied to an IT in late August and it found a place for him.

But this was a low-points course.