NCI Blog

A strategy many students consider when deciding what to do in college is to join a Level 6 course in an area they are interested in before committing to the Level 8 degree. These courses tend to be shorter, have lower entry requirements and graduates can gain entry to year two of an Honours Bachelor Degree.

Now this is amazing news to shout about: current Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) student, Naoise Howley, will represent Ireland at the World Lacrosse Women's Under 20 Championship in Hong Kong in August! In this interview, she shares her path to being selected for the team and her excitement at the opportunity ahead, along with insights into studying ECEC and advice for anyone considering their CAO choices at this crucial time when students have one last chance to change their course preferences before the Change of Mind closes on the 1st July.

The CAO Change of Mind facility will close at 5pm on Monday 1st July 2024. This facility allows students to change the order of their course choices right up until this deadline, meaning you can explore your study options for a little while longer.

Calling all Leaving Certificate Students! You’ve completed your mocks, you’ve been studying hard, and you are now just a few weeks away from the main event. It can be a nerve-wracking time but just remember, you got this!

There are many reasons why you should study marketing but for recent graduate, Kim Bracken, the element she loved most was the practical approach to learning new skills and executing exciting ideas.

Jimmy Ahmed (pictured far left) at the Finbarr Flood Scholarship Ceremony For many students who are making their CAO choices, one factor that helps rank college courses is the positive impact you could have on society as a graduate. Working in areas such as healthcare, sustainability, non-profit or education can be incredibly rewarding and it starts with the choices you make as you prepare to leave secondary school.

Eve Gibney, far right, is pictured at our CAO Open Day in November 2023 Studying computing or computer science at college means you have the opportunity to develop skills which are highly in-demand in the workforce. These include software development, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and data analytics. Currently studying the BSc (Honours) in Computing at National College of Ireland, Eve Gibney shares her reasons for choosing the course, what she has learned from her studies so far as well as advice for anyone considering their CAO options at the moment. Read Eve’s story below to get an insight into studying this course.

Starting college is an exciting and significant milestone in any individual’s life but it can feel quite daunting. Meeting new people, possibly moving away from home for the first time, combined with assignments and study can all lead to a sense of being overwhelmed, which can affect your day-to-day life. Effectively managing your time can be a great way to deal with this anxiety as it will help bring clear structure and balance to your busy lifestyle, ensuring you can enjoy the fun, social activities of college life as well as successfully fulfilling your academic responsibilities.

In this blog post, Niamh Daly shares her journey studying the BSc (Honours) in Data Science at National College of Ireland. She recalls her interest in data analysis from a young age, how she learned NCI's course was a perfect fit for her as well as he experience completing her work placement with Dell Technologies. Finally, Niamh discusses her final year project which focuses on the impact of the weather on Formula One and won the overall prize at the Computing Project Showcase recently.

As a teenager or young person starting your adult life, the choices you make, such as deciding whether to continue your studies to third-level and which college and course to choose, may be based on examples you see around you. For instance, you might think that you wouldn't be able to work at a desk job for 8 hours a day as you don't see examples of this in your life. As a result, you don't understand the rewarding challenges such a professional can face and the little wins that drive them to continuously learn and build new skills in their role, ultimately leading to personal growth and job satisfaction.