Admissions - Frequently Asked Questions

As there are normally more eligible applicants than places, admission is competitive based on a points system.

In addition there are specific subject requirements for each course.

As there are normally more eligible applicants than places, admission is competitive based on a points system.

Please Note: for Medicine (DN400) you must achieve the minimum entry (matriculation) requirements and minimum course entry requirements in the same sitting of the Leaving Certificate and there are additional requirements.

1. If you were born outside the Republic of Ireland (26 counties)
2. If your primary education up to the age of eleven years was outside the Republic of Ireland (26 counties); or
3. If your second level education took place for at least three years outside the Republic of Ireland.
4. If you have a Specific Learning Disability affecting basic language skills in the mother tongue (Department of Education and Skills revision of Rule 46 ‘Rules and Programmes for Secondary Schools’ in relation to exemption from Irish (Circular letter M10/94 – 1(c)(i))

Points are awarded as follows:
Distinction: 66; Merit: 46; Pass: 28

Please see www.ucd.ie/transfer for other closing dates and information.

There are currently no restricted application courses in UCD. However we recommend that you apply by 1 February for the following:
DN300 Veterinary Medicine (practical experience required)
DN301 Graduate Entry Veterinary Medicine (GAMSAT test)
DN400 Medicine (HPAT-Ireland test)
DN401 Graduate Entry Medicine (GAMSAT)

Some categories of applicant (HEAR, DARE and most Mature applicants) must also apply by 1 February.

• Results of school-leaving exams other than Irish Leaving Certificate
• Results of Irish Leaving Certificate pre 1985
• Transcripts of any previous third level or Certificate of attendance if you left without taking examinations.
• Personal statement if applying as a mature applicant (template and list of requirements available on mature years website)
• In addition, applicants applying via HEAR or DARE will need supporting documentation.

If you are admitted to UCD, we will need to see the original at time of registration.

• Medicine (DN400), apply for HPAT-Ireland
• Graduate Entry Medicine (DN401) or Veterinary (DN300/DN301), apply for GAMSAT
• Veterinary Medicine (DN300) provide details of practical experience
• Mature student for Arts and Humanities (DN520-541), Social Sciences (DN700-DN760), Agriculture (DN250-DN271), Science (DN200-DN240) or Law (DN600, DN610, DN620) must present MSAP-Ireland or UCD Open Learning
• Mature entry nursing (DN450-453), you must also apply to the Public Appointments Service for the test.
• Mature student, for all courses, make sure to submit a personal statement (template on mature website)
• Graduate Entry Radiography (DN411) and Physiotherapy (DN420), please send your original transcript to Admissions - we don't need UCD transcripts.

All applicants: Don't forget to check your statement from CAO which you should receive in May.

Applicants who accept a place in DN400 and who have previous third level credits may apply for Recognition of Prior Learning. Applicants may be granted exemption from some or all of stage 1.

However if you are an Arts graduate and just want to add one subject you might be interested in the Higher Diploma in Arts.

Some categories of applicant (HEAR, DARE and most Mature applicants) must also apply by 1 February.

However we recommend that you apply by 1 February for the following:

DN300/DN301 Graduate Entry Veterinary Medicine (GAMSAT test)
DN401 Graduate Entry Medicine (GAMSAT test)

DN411 Graduate Entry Radiography

DN300 Veterinary Medicine (Practical work experience)
DN400 Medicine (HPAT-Ireland test)

Please note if you are a mature applicant, courses added by change of mind cannot be considered on grounds of mature years as mature years assessments will already have taken place.

Applicants applying on the grounds of mature years can re-order their preferences only.

You can add new courses using change of mind but these can only be considered on the basis of QQI or School Leaving results as the mature assessment process will already have taken place.

However as you need to present GAMSAT scores for the following courses, we recommend that you apply by 1 February for the following:

DN300/DN301 Graduate Entry Veterinary Medicine (GAMSAT test)
DN401 Graduate Entry Medicine (GAMSAT)

No, there is no charge for using the CAO change of mind facility from May - 1 July.

CAO will send a statement out with your revised choices. If you haven't received this by 7 July contact CAO. Please check the statement carefully and contact CAO if you see any errors.

If you have lived in another jurisdiction for a period of 6 months or more since you reached the age of 18, you will need to provide Police Certificates from that country, in addition to completing Garda vetting.

Yes, an appeal may be made to the University’s Student Appeals Committee within 10 working days from the date of issue of the decision of the UCD Vetting Review Committee. Details of the appeal procedure can be found in the Student Appeals Procedure.

Appeals may be made on the following grounds:

• New evidence: Information directly relevant to the decision, which for good reason was not available to the UCD Vetting Review Committee.
• Procedural irregularity: There is evidence that the procedures relating to a decision were not followed properly, which may have impacted on the Student Vetting Committee’s decision.

The Student Appeals Committee may:

• Uphold the Appeal
• Reject the Appeal

If you wish to request information about what the Gardai hold on file about you, please contact the National Vetting Bureau directly.

Medicine requires that points be attained in the same sitting as all matric requirements and the HPAT-Ireland aptitude test, which takes place in February/March each year, and must be applied for separately.

This means that, you will receive an offer of the course highest up on your course choices list(s) that you are deemed eligible for, if any. For example, if you receive your first preference Level 8 course in Round One you will not receive an offer for a lower Level 8 preference in subsequent rounds. If you receive an offer of your third preference course you may still receive an offer of your second or first preference course in a subsequent round of offers, but you will not receive an offer of your fourth preference course or lower.

However you should check the CAO website for the list of courses with "Available Places" as there may be something there of interest to you.

• Are you using your CAO number (it should be 8 digits and the first 2 digits are the year.)
• If you were in UCD before you should use your old UCD number.
• Are you using your date of birth in the correct format? (DDMMYY)
• If it still doesn't work, please contact www.ucd.ie/askus

However, if you have accepted a UCD course it may be possible for you to transfer at the end of the CAO season if places remain. There are also transfer opportunties at the end of trimester 1 and the end of the academic year.

• Check your results on CAO-- are all your results showing?
• Do you meet the basic entry requirements such as Irish?
• If you have an Irish exemption does it show (IRS X)
• Do you have all the subject requirements? [Entry requirements and points are available here]
• Are you counting more than 6 subjects?
• Is it on random selection?

If none of the above resolves it, contact us - include your CAO number in the message.

If it is more than two days since you accepted and you haven't heard from us please check your spam folder. Note if you have an iCloud email address Apple may have withheld it in their filtering system.

If you still haven't got your email please contact us

Note: after mid-September (exact date TBC), you must submit an official withdrawal form via your UCD online account.

After mid-September (exact date TBC), deferral requests will only be considered in extenuating circumstances such as serious illness.

If this is received in September, we will do our best to accommodate any applicant who would have been entitled to a place had the results been correct. However, it will depend on availability of places in the course. If we are not able to accommodate applicants this year, we will guarantee an offer for entry next year.

We do not make offers after the third week of trimester, so applicants who become entitled to a place following an amendment after that, can only be given a deferred place for the following academic year.

It is very rare, but occasionally results are downgraded. If this means that you no longer qualify for the course you have accepted your application will have to be reviewed.

• If you now have 501 or better you are eligible for an offer or a deferred offer
• If you now have 500 points it will depend on the random number which was assigned to you in Round 1.
  • If your random number is above that of the last person offered you are eligible for an offer or a deferred offer
  • If your random number is below that of the last person offered, you wouldn't have got an offer if your score had been correct from the beginning, so you are not eligible for an offer now.

For Arts and Humanities (DN520-541), Social Sciences (DN700-DN760), Law (DN600-DN620), Agricultural Science (DN250-271) and Science (DN200-240) courses separate registration for the MSAP-Ireland assessment (or UCD Open Learning) is normally required.

For Medicine (DN400) separate registration for the HPAT-Ireland examination is required.

For Nursing (DN450-453), as a mature applicant, registration for the written assessment is required. Details about the assessment are available at www.nursingcareers.ie

You need to provide supplementary information in addition to your CAO application form. Further information is available on the webpage for each course.

Supplementary information such as examination results, a CV and a personal statement must be sent to CAO.

Please note that documents should be with CAO no later than 15 February. Documents received after this date may not be available to us in time for assessment.

The CAO Handbook contains useful advice regarding the application process. You should read it carefully, taking particular note of the sections about mature student applications.

The opening date for CAO applications is early November. For most of our courses the closing date is 1 February - completed CAO application forms and all supplementary information should be returned to CAO by this date (there is a reduced application fee for applications made prior to 20 January).

Please note that supporting documents should be with CAO no later than 15 February. Documents received after this date may not be available to us in time for assessment.

Some courses may accept late applications up to 1 May but this is subject to the availability of places.

For dates of supplementary tests, please see list of dates

All applications on the grounds of mature years received by the 1 February closing date are forwarded from CAO to UCD.

The relevant Programme Board then evaluates applications for their courses. Generally, the Programme Board is looking for evidence of academic ability, interest in and aptitude for the course for which you have applied. Details of what is taken into account for each course are available on the Mature Students Website.

N.B. It is vital that applicants ensure that all supporting documentation is submitted to CAO promptly. Please note that documents should be with CAO no later than 15 February. Documents received after this date may not be available to us in time for assessment.

Offers for mature applicants will issue via CAO in Round A (early July) and must be accepted within a week.

Successful applicants will receive notification of an offer from CAO when the round issues.

If the decision of the Assessment Board is a Conditional Offer, UCD Admissions will contact the applicant by email, in advance of round A to explain the conditions which must be fulfilled to receive an official CAO offer.

If places remain when Round A closes, these will be offered in the following CAO offer rounds to applicants on the waiting list*. As above, CAO will notify applicants if an offer has issued.

*Please note that the Assessment Board may have decided to offer all eligible applicants in Round A and therefore there may not be a waiting list for your chosen degree.

Please note that, in accordance with CAO procedures, applicants will only be offered their highest successful preference so it is extremely important that you fill out your CAO choices in order of genuine preference.

No, application is via CAO only. However, you may wish to use the template on our mature website    for your personal statement. This can be submitted to CAO with your other supporting documents.

Please note that documents should be with CAO no later than 15 February. Documents received after this date may not be available to us in time for assessment.

• Veterinary Medicine - 2 routes depending on the relevance of your previous degree:
  • DN300 Veterinary Medicine (5 Year course )
  • DN301 Veterinary Medicine (4 Year course Graduates only)
• Medicine - DN401 (Graduate Entry only)
• Radiography - DN411 Radiography (Graduate Entry only)
• Physiotherapy - DN420 Physiotherapy

There are also a number of Master's available which allow graduates change career direction. Some examples are

• Master of Science Physiotherapy (pre-registration)
• Masters in Common Law

Information on all our post graduate courses is available here.

Alternatively you may wish to consider a QQI-FET course.

Please note, if you are a non-EU applicant, you should apply for first year via the Non-EU application form, and if offered, apply for recognition of prior learning.

After the closing date, we send the files to the College/School Offices for decision within a few working days of that. The decisions come back at different times (depending on the volume they are dealing with) and the decisions are entered on the system as soon as we get them. You will receive an email to notify you when the status of your application is updated.

We expect to have all decisions back to us by early August. 

• Non-EU applicants
• Anyone seeking to enter post year one (including those who were here before and want to re-enter)
• Anyone applying for Graduate, Certificate/Diploma or a small number of undergraduate degrees not listed in CAO Handbook (mostly distance learning)

We recommend that you contact UCD Global for assistance..

Admission to Medicine is highly competitive. Applicants must present with an excellent academic profile. Emphasis is placed on performance in the sciences, in particular chemistry. Evidence of excellent interpersonal skills, compassion, maturity, and a well-informed motivation for medicine is also required..

Please see the UCD Global Website for more details.

The ACT college code number is 5512.

Some applicants entering via CAO will also be required to have their documents verified such as those entering on the basis of EU qualifications. We will contact you to advise you of this.

I would like to complete my Graduate studies with UCD.

How do I apply?

The main UCD Open Day usually takes place in November with other smaller events held throughout the year.

Campus tours run frequently. It is also possible to arrange a specific campus tour for yourself. For details of all events & tours, please see the Visiting UCD website.

That depends on a number of factors, such as whether you are an EU or non-EU student and whether you are eligible for "Free Tuition".

Please see the full schedule of fees.

• Were you born outside the EU/EEA?
• Have you, or your parents, lived outside the EU/EEA for 3 of the last 5 years?
• Are you a non-EU/EEA National?
• Have you previously attended a third–level institution (in Ireland or elsewhere)?

If you answered yes to any of these questions you should undertake a fee assessment at https://www.ucd.ie/students/fees/eufeeassessment/ which will determine whether you are eligible for EU fees. 

If you are deemed to be a non-EU candidate for fees purposes, you should apply directly to UCD - see www.ucd.ie/global for more details.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Common Travel Area (CTA) was signed between Ireland and the UK in May (2019). The MoU acknowledged the importance of education noting that “the CTA affords Irish and British citizens the right of access to all levels of education and training, and associated student support in each other’s State on terms no less favourable than those for citizens of that State.

In terms of higher education, this means that notwithstanding Brexit, UK students will still be eligible for the same fee structures as EU students in Ireland.

For the free fees initiative, once students meet all other criteria as set out in the Free Fees Initiative:

• Students with UK nationality will continue to be eligible under the nationality criteria of the free fees scheme;
• UK residency will continue to contribute towards fulfilling the ordinarily resident criteria of the scheme.

UCD Ad Astra Academic Scholars: scholarships will be awarded on the basis of the academic criteria of 6 H1s in the first sitting of the Leaving Cert, as well as an online application. The application consists of a personal statement and a statement of achievement ‘beyond the classroom’. 

If you are a graduate from earlier or have any difficulties with this, please contact www.ucd.ie/askus

The appeals process cannot set aside the rules for applicants who appeal for special treatment.

Appeals may be made only by the applicant, in writing and in line with the procedure, using this appeal form