St Johns College Ballyfermot students with their Leaving Cert Results: from left, Dean Hogarty, Luke Noonan, Eoin de Lecy, Nathan Doyle, Robert Swaine, Jordan Doyle Mathew Murphy Kalim Teeling and Dean Cullins. Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons/The Irish Times

Points in medicine have fallen in four out of five faculties in this years second round of CAO offers. New places were also offered by NUIG on 721 points, the same level as they were in round one last week.

The fallout this year from the restructuring of the Hpat marking scheme, to determine who gets undergraduate medical places, continues in round two offers this morning.

Points for medicine dropped from last year in all five medical faculties in round one last week, by between 14 and 18 points.

Amazingly, they have continued to drop in round two, with 64 places being offered this morning across all five medical schools, representing 15 per cent of all medical places available this year. Points are down by three in RCSI, by two in UCC and UCD, by one in Trinity and NUIG offered places to all applicants holding 721 points.

Students seeking places on other programmes in Trinity College will be pleased to find that 32 courses are offering places in round two. Points have decreased in 23 of these programmes. In contrast NUIG is offering places on only three courses, one being medicine. DCU offered a number of places in one programme, athletic therapy and training.

The large number of courses still to be filled in TCD may indicate that they offered insufficient places in round one and are now hoping to secure acceptances from those students still open to accepting a level eight programme.

Nursing and paramedical programmes have also seen a drop in points across a number of colleges. Nursing is down five points in UCC to 440 (random selection). Optometry is down five to 500 in DIT. Dentistry is down five in Trinity, as are radiation therapy and medicinal chemistry.

A number of places are offered under random selection, where not all applicants on these points got a place. These random selection offers include: veterinary medicine, down five in UCD to 575, as are veterinary nursing at 460, physiotherapy at 550, child and general nursing 490 and psychology 510. Some 38,239 applicants had accepted an offer from the CAO on round one by the closing date last Monday. This morning the CAO is offering a further 3,320 places to 3,125 people. The additional places offered by universities, institutes of technology and private colleges bring good news to these 3,125 students. Some 1,494 course places are offered at level eight and 1,626 at level seven/six. A number of students therefore have received offers at both levels.

For 761 students at level eight and 1,256 at level seven/six, todays post brings an offer of their first choice on their list of course preferences. The number of applicants who will receive an offer today represents a little over 6 per cent of those who did so in round one on August 18th.

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Round two points for medicine courses drop further