The CAO has issued 3,428 offers as part of Round Two of the CAO process.

This included 2,507 Level 8 offers and 921 Level 7/6 offers to a total of 3,197 applicants.

Some 1,270 applicants were receiving their first offer.

Of those who received Level 8 offers, 1,089 received an offer of their first preference.

Eighty per cent of recipients of Level 7/6 offers received an offer of their first preference course.

Round Two offer recipients have until 3pm on Wednesday, 9 September to accept their offer.

If applicants do not wish to accept the new offer they should not take any action.

Their previous offer acceptance will still stand.

CAO head of communications Eileen Keleghan said many applicants receiving a second round offer may have already accepted an offer in Round One.

She noted that accepting the new offer will automatically cancel a previous acceptance.

“It is important that they take the time to decide between these courses and inform CAO before the reply date of this Wednesday, 9 September at 3pm if they wish to accept the new offer,” she said.

“If this is an applicant’s first offer, they can choose to accept this offer, and this will not prevent them from receiving a higher preference course in a later offer round if they are deemed eligible.

“It is important to note, however, that most offers have been issued at this stage and this may be the only offer that they will receive.

Ms Keleghan said there are many other options for those who have been unsuccessful in receiving an offer.

These include further education courses, apprenticeship schemes, reapplying through the CAO next year or repeating the Leaving Cert.

She added that the Available Places facility also has almost 150 courses advertised and that some additional offers will be issued on a weekly basis from today until early October.

Applicants can check if they have received a Round Two offer by logging in to their CAO account using the ‘My Application’ facility from 2pm.

Successful applicants will also receive an offer notification by email and SMS text message if they have selected this option.

The points charts will be available to view on the CAO website from 4pm.