A mature student is someone who is 23 years of age or older by the 1st January in the calendar year of proposed entry to an undergraduate programme. All mature applicants must apply through the Central Applications Office (CAO) by the 1st February at 17:15. Applications maybe made online at www.cao.ie. Please note that for all applicants who applied to the CAO by the 1st of February must send the personal statement for each programme and all supporting documents to the CAO by the 1st of March
Late Applications will be accepted after the 5th of March and up until the 1st of May 17:15 for some programmes. Certain programmes cannot accept late applications. Please refer to the table below for more details.
Supporting documentation - All supporting documentation as outlined in table below (e.g. evidence of prior qualifications, Personal Statement etc.) should be posted directly to the CAO. Note: You may, if you wish, also apply through the CAO on foot of your Leaving Certificate results or a QQI course. You are allowed to submit your application under all three pathways if you so wish and you can do this by selecting all 3 options.
Please refer to the table below for details of the entry requirements and assessment criteria for each programme. The assessment criteria varies by programme and you should particularly note any criteria such as interview or assessment test and the arrangements for same, and also the requirement to provide supporting detail, such as a personal statement, with your application.
Below you will find the course details and the entry requirements for each course. The course information is under the course code and the requirements are under the course name.
Important information for Mature Student applicants to UL
The ‘Statement of Interest’ is a space within the Mature Student section of the CAO application form for you to provide some general information about yourself and about why you wish to study at third-level. You may be applying for a number of different courses on your CAO form, and/or courses in different colleges, but the CAO form only allows for one overall Statement of Interest to be submitted within your application form.
The ‘Personal Statement’ is an additional document which you must write for each UL programme to which you are applying, and which you must send directly to the CAO as part of your application. It is important to check which UL programmes require you to submit a Personal Statement. Further information relating to the statement of interests vs. the personal statement is available here.
