Going to college: Choosing the correct Leaving Cert subjects
As students work their way through Transition Year, or Junior Certificate Year (if they do not take Transition Year), they are faced with choosing the subjects that they will take for their Leaving Certificate cycle. Parents and students sometimes express the fear that students may rule themselves out of some third-level college courses by failing to choose the right subjects.
However, Leaving Certificate subject choice is not as full of pitfalls as people might imagine, and what follows is a rough guide.
Most students take seven subjects for the Leaving Certificate. All students must choose a mixture of subjects, including "core" subjects and some optional choices.
All students take Irish, unless they have grounds for being exempted. Generally speaking, they take English also. Most students will take another language, usually a modern European language, although the range of languages is increasing.
With a number of exceptions, students who apply to honours degree courses of the National University of Ireland (NUI) must present Irish, English, and another language. However, the exceptions to the NUI third-language requirement are increasing, and students without a third language should check the individual course requirements carefully.
The "three-language rule" does not apply to other universities or to the institutes of technology. Trinity College Dublin requires applicants to present English and another language, as does the University of Limerick. One language will satisfy the requirements of most institutes of technology.
Mathematics is an entry requirement for practically all courses in many third-level colleges and colleges of further education. Students are usually advised to take one laboratory science subject.
A very small number of courses require two laboratory science subjects, such as medicine and dentistry in Trinity College and in University College Cork or the five-year medical degree in Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). NUI Galway, RCSI, or University College Dublin (UCD), will accept one science subject for entry to their six-year medical programmes.
Chemistry is essential for Veterinary Medicine in UCD, Pharmacy in Trinity, and Human Nutrition and Dietetics, the degree course jointly taught by DIT Kevin St and Trinity. Chemistry is also specified as one of the two laboratory sciences necessary for medicine, dentistry or pharmacy in UCC. Chemistry is a course requirement for the five-year medical degree programme in UCD and RCSI.
A business subject is rarely an essential requirement for business or commerce at third level, although many students choose one from Accounting, Business or Economics because they enjoy the subject. The five most frequently required subjects are: Irish, English, a third language, mathematics, and a laboratory science subject.
Applicants should check the prospectuses and websites of individual colleges, or the Qualifax website, www.qualifax.ie, for more information.
Open days this week:
Today: 2pm-4pm, Dunboyne College of Further Education, Dunboyne Co Meath;
Friday, February 27: 9.30am-1.30pm, Ormonde College of Further Education, Kilkenny;
Saturday February 28: 12-4pm; Sound Training Centre, Temple Bar, Dublin 2.
