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Deferred Entry

Students who have received an offer may apply to defer their entry to Trinity for one year. Applicants should note that there is a limit on the number of deferrals that can be granted and therefore deferrals cannot be guaranteed. The procedures for deferral applications are set out below.

How to Apply to Defer a CAO Offer

  1. Do NOT accept the offer.

  2. Send an email, IMMEDIATELY to the Admissions Officer at AskTCD using the ‘Log an Academic Registry Enquiry’ button. In your email please list out the reason(s) for the request.  Please enter CAO Deferral Request as the subject of the email.

  3. The email must arrive in the Academic Registry at least two days before the "Reply Date" shown on the Offer Notice. Trinity will notify the applicant of the decision in writing. If the deferral is not granted, you may then accept the offer for the current year.

  4. In order to take up the deferred place, the applicant must reapply through the CAO by 1 February of the following year and the deferred course must appear as the first and only choice on this application.

  5. After reapplying, the applicant must send their new CAO application number to Applications and Admissions Team at AskTCD using the ‘Log an Academic Registry Enquiry’ button.

How to Apply to Defer a Direct Application Offer

Direct undergraduate applicants must request by email to defer their unconditional offer as soon as possible, by contacting the Admissions Officer at AskTCD using the ‘Log an Academic Registry Enquiry’ button.

In your email please list the reason(s) for the request. Please enter Deferral Request as the subject of the email.

If granted, applicants must notify Academic Registry by 1 February in the following year if they wish to take up the place. The deposit paid will transfer to the deferred year and applicants do not need to re-complete the application form in full.

Conditions

Applicants who have been given permission to defer entry must not in the intervening year:

  1. Attend a third-level institution, or
  2. Repeat the second level examinations (e.g. the Leaving Certificate) with the intention of applying for a different third-level programme.
  3. Attend a Higher Education Institution to complete a PLC or other Level 5 course.

If you do so, the deferral will lapse and you will then compete for a place in the normal way.

A place may be deferred for one academic year only.

CAO students who were permitted to defer their place will receive an offer of a place on the course in July of the following year.