School Leaver Applicants

Application for entry to the first year of the full-time LLB (Hons), BA (Hons) Business Studies, BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance and BA (Hons) Marketing degree courses and the first year of the Higher Certificate courses, at the college, is through the Central Applications Office (CAO).
Entry to the full-time Higher National Diploma courses is by application directly to Portobello College.

Applications to the CAO should be made online or by using a paper application form.  CAO Application Forms and Handbooks are available from the Central Applications Office, Tower House, Eglinton Street, Galway (Tel: 091 509800) or are available from your Career Guidance Counsellor. The CAO website is at www.cao.ie. The closing date for CAO applications is 01 February each year, though CAO will take late applications until 01 May in the same year. You are able to change your original preferences at any time up to 01 July of the same year.
Staff at the CAO office recommend Online Application as the advisable method for making applications. It enables you to avoid errors which you might make if you were to use a paper application.  In addition, the fee for submitting an online application is lower than the fee for a paper application.

Transfer Students
Transfer applications, to the second and subsequent years of our full-time programmes, are to be made directly to the Admissions Office at Portobello College.

Mature Applicants
If you are 23 or over on 01 January of the year of entry, you will be considered a mature applicant for the purposes of entry to our HETAC programmes. Whereas mature applicants are welcome to apply through the CAO system, such applications will also be accepted directly to the college.

You will be considered a mature applicant, for the purposes of entry to the LLB (Hons) degree course and the Higher National Diploma programmes, if you are 21 or over on 1 January of the year of entry.

International Students
Portobello College welcomes applications from international students. All EU school-leaver students should apply through the CAO for entry to our CAO-listed courses. Non-EU students should apply directly to the college.

Application Fee
For CAO applicants, there are different fees for online and paper applications. For details see CAO Handbook. Late applicants (after 01 February and before 01 May) will have to pay the CAO an increased application fee.

Tax Concession
You should note that tax at the base rate can be claimed back as a Tax Credit.