Ways in · No points. Barely any fees.
A year or two, no points requirement, and you apply straight to the college. Leads to work, or to the same degree by a quieter road.
A Post Leaving Certificate course is a full-time, practical course run by an Education and Training Board or a further education college. You apply directly. There is no points requirement and there is no race.
People call it a fallback. They say it the way you would describe a spare tyre. It leads directly into work in plenty of fields, and it is one of the surest ways into a degree for anyone whose Leaving Certificate went sideways.
Finish a PLC and there are arrangements that take you into higher education from there. For some courses it is a more reliable way into the same degree than competing on points at eighteen. Ask the college which courses their students actually progress to, and ask for numbers.
No central system means no single closing date. Plenty of colleges take applications deep into the summer, including after results come out. This is the door that is still open on the day you decide everything has gone wrong.
Smaller classes, continuous assessment, work you do with your hands as often as your memory. If the Leaving Certificate never suited you, that may have been the format rather than you.
A year of relevant training makes an employer a lot more likely to take you on. You stop being a stranger with no experience.
“It's what you do if you fail.”
It's what a lot of people do who arrive at the same degree by a different road, and some who wanted the qualification itself all along.
“Employers don't rate it.”
QQI awards are recognised nationally, and in a good many fields the practical training is exactly what they're looking for.
“I've left it too late.”
Almost certainly not. Ring them.
These pages tell you how it works. A person can tell you what it was actually like. Mentor profiles are open to registered schools.
How schools registerInformation checked September 2026. Requirements, fees and deadlines change — always confirm with the official sources linked above before making a decision.