First Year Change of Course

The University offers a scheme whereby first-year students, who find themselves in the wrong degree programme, may apply online, to change to another first-year programme.  Students must have the required number of Leaving Certificate points or equivalent, meet the necessary subject requirements of the course they wish to change into, and there must be a place on the course. A change of course cannot take place until the close of the CAO season and is in no way guaranteed. Students who are permitted to change must also realise that they will have missed the first weeks of their new programme and must take responsibility to make up “lost ground”.

There are also possibilities to change into another related course at the end of the first year. Details of these internal transfers are available from College Offices.

The Change of Course procedure will open for 2024 on Wednesday 18 September at 10am, and will close on Thursday 3 October at 3pm. If you are having difficulty in your course please see the Having Second Thoughts information page to look through the options available to you, including contact details for our First Year Experience Coordinator Nóirín Deady. 

Deferred Entry

EU/EFTA/UK students who have been offered a place on an undergraduate course in University College Cork may be permitted, on application to the Admissions Officer, to defer first-year entry to the University for one year. Applications are considered from students applying via CAO and via UCCApply. Please see the Deferred Entry page below for further information.

Student Garda Vetting

The National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012 to 2016 (the Acts) provide a statutory basis for mandatory vetting of persons who wish to undertake a work placement and/or activities that bring them into contact with children and/or vulnerable adults.

In accordance with the Acts, UCC requires students (or prospective students) for relevant programmes to be vetted. Registration on these programmes is provisional, pending the outcome of the Vetting process. Upon completion of online programme registration, students will be prompted by email to begin the vetting process.  Further to the programmes listed as requiring vetting, any students who engage in university activities that may involve unsupervised access to children and/or vulnerable adults will also be subject to UCC’s Vetting processes.

ALL students who have resided outside Ireland for a period of 6 months or more (from the age of 16 years) must furnish a Police Clearance Certificate from their country or countries of residence. This Certificate should state that the student has no convictions recorded against him or her while residing there. In addition to obtaining a Police Clearance Certificate, all students may be invited to sign a legal declaration (Affidavit) in the presence of a Commissioner for Oaths confirming that they have no criminal convictions current or pending.