• Question: How many points in the leaving cert do you need to become a engineer?

    Asked by Deco to Aislinn, Nathan, Padraic, Sinead on 11 Feb 2015.
    • Photo: Sinead Quirke

      Sinead Quirke answered on 11 Feb 2015:

      Hi,

      Im not sure how many points and it will vary depending on whcih course and which college you want to go to. Remember alos that you can start off by doing a 2 year certificate in a technical college, which is what I did, and then you can transfer into a degree course. You need mcuh lower points to get into a certificate or diploma course and then when you want to transfer they dont look at your leaving cert points they look at your results from the enginnering course.

    • Photo: Nathan Quinlan

      Nathan Quinlan answered on 11 Feb 2015:

      Hi
      For most level 8 courses, about 400 points. You also need a C or better in higher Maths OR pass the maths entrance exam in NUI Galway (I’m not sure if other universities/IoTs do something like that). As Sinead says, it’s also possible to start in an Institute of Technology (IT) and transfer to a university (I’ve seen that work really well for people who do it) or carry on to degree level in some ITs.

      Really, I think points shouldn’t be a big factor in how anybody chooses their course or career – they’re just numbers that comes out of the CAO computers, and they have nothing to do with what the course is like. And they can jump wildly from one year to the next. The way the CAO works, it can do you no harm to put high-points courses in your preferences, even if you don’t expect to get the points. The only tactical thing you can do with the CAO form is to include at least one course *anywhere* in your CAO preferences that you will definitely get the points for. Then, even it’s way down at the bottom of your list, you will get an offer on it. My advice is to figure out what you want to do and go for it.

    • Photo: Aislinn Coghlan

      Aislinn Coghlan answered on 11 Feb 2015:

      Hi!

      this all depends on what college you want to go to. You can go to http://www.steps.ie and there is a list of all the colleges that do engineering and their entry requirements.

      Never let the points put you off though. If you don’t get enough to go to your first choice there are so many other ways to become an engineer. You can start by doing a post leaving certificate course, then work your way up to a diploma and then a degree. The sky is the limit!

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