Supporting Documents
The Qualifications and Assessments section of the CAO Handbook provides information on documentation or evidence you may need to supply to support your application.
Further instructions on how to post your documents can be found on page 100 of the CAO Handbook.
Supporting documents must arrive in CAO within 10 days of registering online with CAO (or by 10 February, 2024 at 5pm)*.
*Documents received by CAO later than 10 February 2024 will be processed and added to your CAO account, however you must contact the HEI admissions offices directly to check if they will consider your documents at this stage.
The assessment process for mature applications takes place during March and April for most HEIs, therefore CAO urges you to get your documentation to CAO as soon as possible to ensure that you do not miss out on an offer.
HEI contact details can be found here: Admissions Offices Contacts
HEAR DARE documents must arrive in CAO by 17:00 on 15th March, 2024.
Evidence of the results of examinations which are being taken in the current year must be sent to CAO as soon as they are available to the applicant and must be with CAO a minimum of 12 days before the relevant offer round.
It is not possible to upload, e-mail, fax or send external storage devices of documents to CAO. Faxed, e-mailed or scanned documents are not considered sufficient evidence. All documents must be posted to CAO.
GCE/GCSE Applicants must inform CAO of any GCSE, AS & A Level examinations previously taken. GCSE results are required to meet minimum entry requirements, but are not used for points computation purposes.
Applicants must provide certified photocopies of GCSE, AS and A Level certificates/statements of results produced by an examining board (i.e. they must show the exam board logo) to support their application. For information on applying to CAO as a GCE applicant read the CAO Handbook and the following guide.
Applicants are advised to supply their supporting documents to CAO as soon as possible. In respect of examinations already taken, evidence should be posted to CAO within 10 days of registering with CAO. We expect to collect the results of summer 2024 ‘A’ and ‘AS’ level British and Northern Ireland examinations electronically from examining authorities in August. In order to do this, applicants must enter their correct examination board, centre and candidate number in the GCE section of their CAO application.
Applicants completing summer 2024 ‘A’ and ‘AS’ levels outside the UK must arrange to post certified copies of their results to CAO as soon as they are available.
When the exam results are released in August, we will send an email to all applicants. Applicants will then need to login to their online application to ensure that all ‘GCSE’, ‘A’ and ‘AS’ examination results are on file in CAO. Certified photocopies of any certified examination results not appearing on your application should be posted to CAO without delay.
Mature applicants are advised to supply evidence of any qualifications that they mention in their online application. For more information please read the CAO Handbook. You will also find more information in the Mature Applicant section of the CAO website: cao.ie/mature.
If you have questions about the personal statement or referees you can contact the Mature Student Officer or the Admissions Officer of the HEIs that you are applying to for more information.
Applicants are generally required to supply a certified copy of their final school leaving examination results as soon as they are available. Documents not printed in English must be accompanied by an official translation.
You may also be required to supply proof of English language proficiency.
If you have further queries in relation to English Language proficiency, please see HEI websites or contact HEIs directly. HEI contact details can be found here.
If you are sitting your examinations this summer, you do not need to supply your documents within ten days of applying, but you must supply the certified photocopies of your results as soon as they are available to you. For entry requirements criteria for EU/EFTA applicants, please click here.
Please note: Candidates born and fully educated outside the Republic of Ireland who are presenting qualifications other than the Leaving Certificate for matriculation are automatically exempt from Irish and do not need to make application to NUI.
For information on making an application to Graduate Entry Medicine and for details on the documents that are required, please see cao.ie/gradmed.
Please ensure that you have included all relevant information that might help the HEIs assess your application including: Copies of FETAC Level 5 and 6 awards, copies of BTEC and other awards, transcripts from previous Higher Education, a CV with information about relevant previous experience with references, a statement of interest.
All supporting documentation, including cover sheet, must be sent to `Advanced Entry, CAO, Tower House, Eglinton St., Galway`. Failure to supply CAO with supporting documentation may result in your application being rejected by the HEI. For more information on Advanced Entry applications please click here.
If you wish to receive an acknowledgement of receipt of your documents, you must include a stamped-addressed postcard or envelope with your mailing. CAO will return this postcard/envelope on receipt but please note that CAO is not in a position to check supporting documents for correctness and completeness.
CAO will scan your documents electronically and you will have an opportunity to view them online via the 'My Application' section of the CAO web site (by the end of April for documents received by the end of March).
Documents received after the end of March are processed and added to accounts on a fortnightly basis.
If you have sent documents to arrive after 31st March, you must check your account no later than 30th June to ensure they have been uploaded.
Please note: HEAR and/or DARE documentation is not available to view via 'View Supporting Documents'.
From 17 April, you can view documents you have sent to CAO by clicking on 'View Supporting Documents'.
If the 'View Supporting Documents' facility is not available to you, this is because you have not sent any documents to CAO or your documentation was not received by 31st March.
All documents received by CAO up to the end of March have been scanned and added to applicant accounts. Documents received after the end of March are processed and added to accounts on a fortnightly basis.
If you have sent documents to arrive after 31st March you must check your account no later than 30th June to ensure they have been uploaded.
Please note: HEAR and/or DARE documentation is not available to view via 'View Supporting Documents'.
If you applied to CAO in a prior year and you wish to reapply for 2024, you must make a new application in full i.e. you must complete the application form, pay the application fee, and supply any additional information/documentation required.
Documents from a previous CAO application cannot be transferred to a new CAO application.
If you have been granted an exemption from completing Irish at secondary school by the Department of Education, it will still be necessary to follow the steps outlined at cao.ie/exemptions in order to obtain an exemption from Higher Education Institution minimum entry requirements.
A school exemption will not be sufficient.
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