CAO Vacant (Available) Places

CAO Vacant places (also called Available Places) is a facility which enables students to apply for CAO places on courses that are not yet filled. These can include:

Courses that didn’t attract enough applicants
Newly introduced programmes added after the CAO deadline
Courses where demand was lower than expected

Who Can Apply?

Current CAO applicants: You can apply for Available Places without paying an extra fee.
New applicants: If you didn’t apply to CAO earlier in the year, you can still open an account and apply by paying a €45 fee.

Process

Round One Offers
Available Places Opened
Round Two Offers
Offers continue weekly until all places are filled.

How It Works

Applicants must meet the minimum entry requirements for the course.
Offers are made based on points ranking, just like in the main CAO process.
You can apply for multiple Available Places, but only one offer per round can be accepted.
Accepting a lower preference offer doesn’t block you from receiving a higher preference later—unless you accept an Available Place as your new first choice

After round one offers have been made a continuously updated list of courses with available places can be found on the CAO website – cao.ie. More details about applying for vacant or available places can be viewed on the video below (video created by cao.ie)