There has been a surge in the number of students looking to study veterinary medicine at third level in 2026 on the back of the delivery of two new veterinary courses.

The total mentions of veterinary medicine courses on this year’s Central Applications Office (CAO) have increased by 198% since 2025, with 2,692 students mentioning it on their CAO application for 2026 compared with 902 last year.

Along with this, there has also been a 75% increase in students selecting veterinary medicine as their first preference. For 2026, 1,082 students have it as their first preference compared with 618 last year.

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For the first time, students will be able to study veterinary medicine outside of Dublin due to the development of the new programmes.

There are now 40 new places in South East Technological University and another 40 places in Atlantic Technological University, but the demand remains much higher than the number of spots available.

Decline in agriculture

Surprisingly, agricultural science has seen a 10% decline in the number of students selecting it as their first choice, with 303 first preferences for 2026 compared with 337 in 2025.

However, the number of total mentions is up 15%, with 1,926 total mentions this year compared with 1,668 last year.

That means the number of students with agricultural science courses selected across their CAO applications has increased.

For Level 6 and 7 courses, agriculture has also seen a 9% decline in first preferences this year and a 10% decline in total mentions by students.