The Verdict

What a day! Never have I felt so much stress, so much relief, so much adrenaline and so much exhaustion all in the space of 24 hours. You can gather from the word 'relief' that I received the offer I wanted! So now it's official - I am going to study Multimedia in DCU. Woohoo! It's an amazing feeling!

After listening to my iPod for quite a while in a futile attempt to calm down, I finally gave in to tiredness and tried to get to sleep at about half past twelve. So much for eleven at the latest! I must have slept for at least four or five hours, because I was then awoken by the sound of the dog whimpering downstairs and my dad getting up. Of course then it dawned on me that the moment was getting ever closer and I couldn't get back to sleep. I finally got up at six and turned on the laptop... only to find that the CAO website was being a bastard and wouldn't let me log in. Fantastic! That's just what thousands of anxious students need in the early hours of a Monday morning. That infuriating 'unavailable at this time' message everyone hates to see kept flashing up on the screen, and by this time I was getting extremely agitated. My parents, meanwhile, were both waiting downstairs for the news and were getting pretty worried. After what felt like an age but in reality was probably only about ten or fifteen minutes, I managed to log in, and lo and behold - there was the offer I wanted. Cue massive sigh of relief! The system then decided to be an even bigger bastard and refused to let me accept the offer for another ten minutes or so. However, all was well in the end. Phew!

The points for many courses went crazy this year, particularly in the area of science and computing. Luckily for me, Multimedia only went up by ten points, so that's 430. My points from my Leaving Cert last year were 515, so I was a good 85 points over the requirement. What was I worrying for, eh? Well, I'm a pessimist, and I hate taking anything for granted. But never mind, what's done is done. I'm in now, and I couldn't be happier! My parents are no longer nervous wrecks either, which is good!

Now I just have to wait for an offer of accommodation. I sent in my application back in May, so hopefully everything goes okay in that department. As an incoming first year student I had two choices: Hampstead and Larkfield. I decided that Hampstead appealed to me more, as you have an ensuite instead of a shared bathroom. Fingers crossed I get it!

I'm now looking forward to watching my beloved Manchester United tonight in the first match of the new Premier League season. Today's events will just make it all the more enjoyable!

Oh, and I did go back to bed in the end... but I still couldn't sleep. :)