CAO 2026: How to Pick a Course (Practical Guide)

If you're a 6th year filling in your CAO form, you're being asked to make a decision that feels permanent at an age when very few people have a clear sense of what they want long-term. The good news: it's less permanent than it feels, and there's a practical way to approach it that doesn't require you to have your whole life figured out.

Here's a step-by-step way to think about your CAO list for 2026.

Step 1: Start with interest, not points

Before looking at any numbers, make a list of courses you'd genuinely be okay studying for three or four years — not courses that sound impressive, courses you'd actually engage with. This list will probably be longer than you expect once you take the pressure off.

It's tempting to start from "what points do I think I'll get" and work backwards, but this tends to produce a list of courses chosen for their perceived status rather than genuine fit, which can make the degree itself harder to get through.

Step 2: Layer in salary and ROI data — as a tiebreaker

Once you have a shortlist of courses you're genuinely interested in, this is where earnings data becomes useful. If you're torn between two or three courses you'd be equally happy studying, comparing starting salary, 5-year salary and payback period is a sensible way to break the tie.

Our guide to the best CAO courses for salary in 2026 is a good starting point if you want to see which fields tend to perform well, but the more useful step is checking the actual courses on your shortlist rather than general categories.

[INSERT GRADUATE SALARY FROM CALCULATOR] — run each course on your shortlist through the calculator and note these three figures side by side. It takes a few minutes and gives you a much clearer picture than relying on general reputation.

Step 3: Don't confuse points with quality (or salary)

This is one of the most common mistakes on the CAO. Points are a measure of demand relative to supply — how many people applied for how many places — not a direct measure of how good a course is, or what it pays. A course can have high points because there are very few places available, not because graduates earn more.

It's also worth being aware that some courses have a genuinely weak financial return relative to their cost — not because the subject isn't valuable, but because of how the job market for that field is structured in Ireland. Our piece on the lowest-ROI degrees in Ireland covers this honestly, without suggesting those subjects aren't worth studying for other reasons.

Step 4: Order your list by genuine preference

Once you've got your shortlist and the numbers to go with it, list your CAO choices in true order of preference — not by points, not by what you think you're likely to get. The CAO system offers you the highest-ranked course on your list that you qualify for, so ranking strategically (e.g. putting a "safer" choice higher because you're worried about points) can backfire and lock you into an offer you'd have ranked lower.

Step 5: Do this before the deadline, not the night before

Give yourself time to actually sit with this information, ideally with input from parents or guardians if cost is something the family is factoring in together. Rushing this the night before the CAO deadline tends to default back to "go with the highest points" — exactly the trap this whole approach is designed to avoid.