From Leaving CertiFiCate to Leaving SChooL a Longitudinal Study ...

Guidance and Decision-Making in Sixth Year 169
We are not given any options at all.
No, nothing.
I’d love to be at home, I’d be a midwife or social care but you
wouldn’t get the points. (Barrack Street, girls’ school, working-class
intake)
In other cases, students opted for specific colleges or courses where they
knew the points for a new course would be low:
It’s a new course so the points will be low, entry level. (Fig Lane,
coed school, middle-class intake)
I asked [the guidance counsellor] which is the lowest points and it
turns out it’s a good enough course so it’s grand. (Argyle Street,
coed school, mixed intake)
5.3.6 Getting into the Right College
The interviews highlight how for some students choices about third-level
entry were influenced by the type of college or university they wished to
go to. This choice process appears to be quite complex and influenced by
a range of factors. Location was of major importance with the majority
of those interviewed wishing to attend colleges close to home:
Distance from home is kind of a factor for me. I could have picked
[name of city] or [name of city] and I picked [name of city] in the
end. Just a bit too awkward you know.
I wanted to go to [name of city] but it’s a bit far really like. (Wattle
Street, boys’ school, mixed intake)
For some students, going to a college or university that was within commuting
distance was important and many would not consider going to
another city or regional town:
Dublin, you don’t want to go down to like [name of town] or [name
or regional city] or any place like that.
Interviewer: You want to be in Dublin?
Commuting distance. (Fig Lane, coed school, mixed intake)