Higher Education Access Route (HEAR)

How do I apply?

You must apply via CAO no later than 1 February of proposed year of entry.

In addition, you will have to submit supporting documents to show your eligibility for HEAR by 15 March.

Please see (opens in a new window)www.accesscollege.ie for details of the required documents.

If you are deemed HEAR eligible you will be considered for a HEAR place in UCD if you meet the following minimum admissions requirements.

What are the minimum admission requirements?

• You must have a minimum of 300 points (for DN400 Medicine minimum is 480 points).
• You must have met all the entry requirements for the course. 
• You must be within 20% of the points required (e.g. if the cut-off is 500 you must have at least 400 points).

If I meet these will I definitely be offered a place?

Not necessarily. We have a target number of places to offer to eligible HEAR applicants in most courses. This means that, admission is competitive if there are more eligible HEAR applicants, who meet the minimum admission requirements, than places available. For some courses, the lowest HEAR offer has been close to the standard cut-off. As an indication, the minimum score at which offers were made previously are shown below.

In some cases, all available places are offered to to applicants from the priority groups.

Note: as with all cut-off points the minimum can vary significantly from year-to-year and random selection can apply among applicants on the same point.

Priority Groups: As stated in the handbook at (opens in a new window)www.accesscollege.ie, priority is given to DARE eligible applicants with physical and sensory disabilities and those who are both DARE and HEAR eligible who meet the minimum requirements outlined above. Any places remaining are assigned to eligible DARE and HEAR applicants on points ranking.

In the table below
# means there were no eligible applicants in the category or the quota was filled with applicants from the priority groups. Points for those admitted from the priority groups may be lower than the average shown below as they are not included in the averages.

* All applicants with a score greater than this were offered, but it was not possible to offer to all applicants with this score and random selection was applied.

 Please note, due to GDPR constraints we cannot give the minimum points for any year as this could potentially identify an individual applicant.