Trinity courses have seen a 38 per cent increase in first preference applications through the Central Applications Office (CAO), with 10,253 applicants listing Trinity as their first preference.
Overall 14.5 per cent of applicants for level eight courses through the CAO listed Trinity courses as their first preference. This figure was 12 per cent in 2020.
The Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty has seen large increases in demand for courses, with first preferences for history rising 90 per cent, first preferences for psychology increasing by 66 per cent and first preferences for PPES rising by 62 per cent. Meanwhile first preference applications for BESS increased by 40 per cent.
STEM courses have also seen an increase in demand with first preference applications for engineering increasing by 44 per cent, first preferences for computer science increasing by 56 per cent, first preferences for medicine rising by 58 per cent and first preferences for dental science rising by 19 per cent.
In a press statement, Provost Patrick Prendergast said: “These are record numbers and we are thrilled to see such an increase in interest in attending Trinity in 2021/2022, evident across all our faculties and Schools.”
“There has been an enormous increase in interest in the Health Sciences in particular, but our STEM and Arts/Humanities and Social Sciences courses are also attracting greater numbers of interested students. I am also particularly pleased that our new Trinity Joint Honours programme is proving to be so attractive to prospective students.”
“We look forward to welcoming an enthusiastic new cohort of students in September as they embark on a new phase of their education.”
Some 264 students have applied for the newly created environmental science and engineering course, with 37 students putting it down as their first preference, while applications for Joint Honours courses have doubled and first preferences for the programme have trebled.
In a press statement, Vice-Provost Prof Juergen Barkhoff said: “We are conscious of – and indeed moved by – the trust that these students are placing in Trinity.”
“We want to reassure them that the beginning of the vaccination programme gives us good reason to hope that much of the University will be back to normal when these students enter Trinity for the first time.”
“Trinity’s researchers, its teaching staff and most of all Trinity’s students have shown themselves to be remarkably resilient. We are now carefully and thoroughly preparing for a slow and safe return to normal University life.”
This year, leaving certificate students will be given the option of receiving calculated grades or sitting traditional exams – or both – for individual subjects.
