With the first round of offers from the Central Applications Office (CAO) finally released, College has offered a record 4,059 places to students, jumping from 3,897 offers in 2024. The continuously strong demand for Trinity courses was again apparent, with 60 percent of offers being for students’ first preference courses, according to a Trinity press release.
Significant increases and decreases of required points include Music Education, which leapt to 667 points from 509 due to the introduction of a music test whose scores are now added to Leaving Cert points (adding a maximum of 200 points). Other changes include History up 27 points to 526, and Philosophy Political Science Economics and Sociology (PPES), down 14 points to 588.
As COVID-era grade inflation policies on Leaving Cert points were weakened this year, officials expected higher overall standards for top-level courses. While correct, this seemed to be offset by a sharp increase in demand, as cut-off points rose by an average of 9.6 points for single-honours courses.
Trinity’s Vice-Provost Orla Sheils speculated in the increase in demand further in the press release. “While we are delighted that students continue to choose Trinity as their preferred option, it remains to be seen if we are seeing an impact on points from re-applications through the CAO from students who sat their Leaving Certificate in previous years. It’s great that we are reducing the uplift in Leaving Cert grades, but it is regrettable that the effects of this gradual unwinding will continue for a number of years to come.”
The “effects” of the recent change in policy have no doubt left many disappointed. CAO data for 2025 showed a 12 percent increase in first preference applications from 2024, with 11,233 students preferring Trinity’s Level 8 courses, up from 10,015 the previous year.
Applicants have also availed of a decrease in single-honours courses requiring 600 scores, down from eight in 2024 to seven in 2025. Six courses also use random allocation, a lottery system that is activated when a course has too many qualified applicants. This number has not changed since last year. Courses using random allocation processes for applicants include Integrated Engineering (577), Dental Science (625), Physiotherapy (577), and others.
According to the Irish Times, many applicants will receive two offers from their level-eight and level-six and seven list of course options. However, they will only be allowed to accept one. This must be done by 3pm on Tuesday, September 2nd.
