The race to snap up college places for leaving secondary school students has begun, it has been revealed.

According to John Walshe and John Fallon, writing for the Irish Independent, a record number of people have already accepted college places before the Leaving Certificate results have even been announced.

While the results will come out on Wednesday (August 18th), it was revealed that 7,280 applicants already have college places.

These early acceptances were issued to mature students and overseas pupils - indicating there has been a rise in the number of these applicants from the previous year, as only 5,568 early places were given in 2009.

It was also suggested that as well as there being an increase in the number of over-23-year-olds applying for college positions, there has been a general growth in applicants of 3,000 from last year.

The newspaper recently criticised the Leaving Certificate system, saying that it does not allow students to celebrate their achievements "with a sense of satisfaction" beyond what points they receive.

Posted by Donal Walsh 

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