Study English in Ireland and the title on the CAO code matters less than you would think: only a handful of degrees name the subject, while general Arts entries from 208 points lead to the same lectures. This guide compares every route, from Trinity at 546 to Waterford at 208, and shows where each one leads afterwards.
Only a handful of courses put English or Literature in the title. Far more students study it inside a general Arts degree, choosing it as one of their first-year subjects and carrying it through to a joint or single honours award. The named degrees ask for more points; the Arts doors are usually the cheapest entry to exactly the same lecture halls. Both are on this page, so compare the subject you will actually take rather than the title on the offer letter.
| UNIVERSITY | CAO CODE | PROGRAMME | AWARD | YEARS | 2026 R1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trinity College | TR023 | English Studies | BA (Hons) | 4 | 546 |
| UCD | DN530 | Humanities (English available as a major) | BA (Hons) | 3 | 465 |
| UCD | DN520 | Joint Honours (English with a second subject) | BA (Hons) | 3 | 422 |
| Univ. of Galway | GY111 | Arts (English and Creative Writing) | BA (Hons) | 3 | 413 |
| DCU | DC009 | Arts: Joint Honours (Humanities), English available | BA (Hons) | 3 | 390 |
| Maynooth | MH111 | Creative Writing and English | BA (Hons) | 3 | 356 |
| UCC | CK109 | English | BA (Hons) | 3 | 353 |
| Mary Immaculate | MI010 | Drama and English | BA (Hons) | 3 | 308 |
| ATU Sligo | AU929 | Writing and Literature | BA (Hons) | 3 | Check CAO |
Points shown are 2026 CAO Round 1 cut-offs. Verify at cao.ie/points. All of the institutions on this table come under the Free Fees Initiative if you are eligible.
These are the entries that get overlooked: general Arts degrees that carry English as a full subject, and the smaller colleges teaching literature and writing in their own right.
Teaching English at post-primary level is the single most common destination for these graduates, and it is the one part of this field with real rules. The Teaching Council sets out how many credits in English literature and language your degree must contain, and not every course that mentions English will satisfy them. Check the criteria in first year, choose your modules accordingly, and confirm with the department. It is far easier than discovering the gap after you graduate.
| Institution | CAO Code | Programme | Level | 2026 R1 Points | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Univ. of Galway | GY101 | Arts (Joint-Honours), English available | L8 | 337 | Galway |
| Univ. of Limerick | LM002 | Arts, English available as a major | L8 | 317 | Limerick |
| Mary Immaculate | MI010 | Drama and English | L8 | 308 | Limerick |
| MI002 | Arts, English available as a subject | L8 | 280 | Limerick | |
| UCC | CK101 | Arts, English available as a subject | L8 | 300 | Cork |
| Maynooth | MH101 | Arts, English available as a subject | L8 | 300 | Maynooth |
| ATU Sligo | AU929 | Writing and Literature (on campus) | L8 | Check CAO | Sligo |
| AU930 | Writing and Literature (fully online) | L8 | Check CAO | Online | |
| Dundalk IT | DK861 | Arts, with English and literature strands | L8 | 237 | Dundalk |
| SETU | SE200 | Arts, with English and literature strands | L8 | 208 | Waterford |
Points shown are 2026 CAO Round 1 cut-offs. All of these are publicly funded institutions covered by the Free Fees Initiative if you are eligible, with one exception worth noting: ATU lists the online Writing and Literature degree at €3,000 a year and states that it is not approved for SUSI funding, so check the fee position on that one before you put it on your list.
The courses on this page run from 208 points in Waterford to 546 in Trinity, and all of them are honours degrees that lead to the same masters programmes, the same PME for teaching, and the same graduate jobs. Nobody has ever been asked at an interview what the cut-off was the year they started. What you read, what you write and what you do with the degree are what separate graduates afterwards.
English is one of the easiest subjects in the country to reach by an indirect route, because so many degrees carry it as a subject rather than a title.
Further education colleges run one-year awards in areas such as writing and publishing, journalism, media, drama and general humanities, all of which carry progression links into Arts and English degrees.
This is the main alternative route, and for most students it is simply the better one. MH101 and CK101 at 300 points, LM002 at 317, GY101 at 337, MI002 at 280, DK861 at 237 and SE200 at 208 all carry English as a full subject.
If you are 23 or over on 1 January of the year you start, you apply as a mature applicant through the CAO by 1 February and are assessed on your background and motivation rather than on points.
English is one of the most common mature entry subjects in the country, and reading widely on your own counts as genuine preparation. Several institutions also run part-time and evening humanities degrees, and ATU Sligo’s fully online Writing and Literature degree exists precisely for people who cannot attend in person.
A taught masters in literature, creative writing, publishing or digital humanities takes a year and is open to graduates of related subjects, so a degree in history, law or media does not shut the door.
Be careful about one thing: a masters in English does not by itself qualify you to teach English at post-primary level. The Teaching Council looks at the content of your primary degree. If teaching is the goal, check the criteria before you pay for a postgraduate year that will not count.
Chaucer, Shakespeare, Joyce and the contemporary novel are taught the length of the country. Whether you arrive through a 546-point single honours degree or a 208-point Arts entry, what you are being asked to do is read closely, argue clearly and write well, and those are judged on the page rather than on the offer you started with.
English literature is taught in English right across the continent, often by departments with a comparative or international emphasis you will not find at home, and at tuition levels that make it worth a look.
An EU literature degree is recognised academically in Ireland and will be accepted for postgraduate entry. The complication is teaching. If you intend to come home and teach English at post-primary level, your degree has to satisfy the Teaching Council’s subject criteria, and a European course built around comparative literature, linguistics or translation may not contain the required content. Check the criteria with the Teaching Council before you commit, not after. The same caution applies in reverse to English-language teaching qualifications, which are a separate matter again.
As an Irish citizen you pay domestic rates across the EU, which in several countries is a few thousand euro a year, and in a handful is close to nothing beyond registration fees.
This is the rare subject where the language of instruction is never the obstacle. Dutch, Nordic and German universities run English literature and English language degrees taught wholly in English.
European departments often teach English literature comparatively, beside continental writing and in translation, which is a genuinely different training from the Irish and British focus at home.
Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Poland all teach English literature in English at undergraduate level, and tuition for EU citizens ranges from modest to nothing at all in some Nordic systems, though the cost of living usually takes back what the fees give. Wherever you look, read the module list rather than the brochure: the same degree title can mean a literature degree in one country and a language and linguistics degree in another.
There is no professional register for English graduates, with one significant exception: teaching. Everything else is a matter of what you specialise in and what you can demonstrate.
Post-primary English, plus adult and further education. The largest single destination, and the one with formal requirements.
Commissioning, editing, rights, production and proofreading, across trade, academic and educational publishing.
Reporting, features, press and public affairs, internal communications and speechwriting.
The quiet growth area. Technical writing, content design and documentation roles in the technology sector hire English graduates steadily and pay well.
English is a well-worn route into a law conversion, the civil service and graduate programmes that recruit on reasoning and writing rather than degree title.
Festivals, arts administration, libraries and archives, academia, and writing itself, usually alongside other work rather than instead of it.
This is the one path here with formal gates, and the gates are set at degree level, not afterwards.
English graduates spread across more sectors than almost any other subject, so the range is wide and the destination matters more than the degree.
Indicative starting range across communications, publishing, administration and graduate programmes. Newly qualified teachers start on the published public service salary scale.
Indicative for editors, communications managers, established teachers moving up the scale, and content or technical writers in the technology sector.
Indicative for communications directors, senior editorial and content leads, school leadership and specialist technical writing roles.
Post-primary and further education teaching, curriculum and educational publishing, tutoring and adult literacy work.
Journalism, publishing, public relations, marketing and internal communications, broadcasting and production research.
Technical writing and content design in technology firms, the civil service, law after conversion, libraries, archives, festivals and arts administration.
Salary figures are indicative ranges drawn from Irish graduate recruitment guides and vary widely by sector, employer and location. Teaching salaries are set by published public service pay scales rather than negotiated individually.
The CAO dates are the same for every subject. What is specific to English is how early the teaching decision starts to matter.
Read outside the Leaving Certificate list, and keep a note of what you liked and why. That is the only real preparation for a degree where you may read a novel a week, and it is what makes a personal statement or a mature application convincing later.
Applications open in early November, and open days run through the autumn. For this subject the useful question at an open day is which authors and periods are actually taught, and how much choice you get in second and third year.
Apply by 5pm on 20 January for the reduced fee. There is no advantage in the offers process, only in the cost.
The normal closing date is 5pm on 1 February. Mature applications and any restricted course must be in by then. Most English degrees are not restricted, but performance-based and portfolio courses in drama, music and the creative arts are, so check each code on your list rather than assuming.
If you are applying for DARE or HEAR, the supporting documentation deadlines fall in March. University of Galway also runs a creative arts performance points scheme with its own application and deadline, which is worth checking if you write or perform seriously.
Free, and it closes at 5pm on 1 July. This is where many students quietly add the general Arts codes below their named first choice, which is exactly the right instinct in this subject.
Results come first, then Round 1 offers in late August, with Round 2 in early September. Several English courses moved in Round 2 this year, so an offer below your first choice in August is not always the end of it.
First year decides which subjects you carry forward. If teaching is even a possibility, map your module choices against the Teaching Council criteria now. Write for the student paper, the literary society or anywhere that publishes you, because that is what turns a degree into a portfolio.
The three common next steps are straight into work, a two-year PME if you are teaching, or a one-year masters in literature, creative writing or publishing. PME applications open the winter before, so decide in the first half of final year rather than after the exams.
A named English degree commits you from day one and usually costs more points. An Arts entry costs less, lets you try three or four subjects before choosing, and ends with the same English modules on your transcript. If you are certain, take the named degree. If there is any doubt at all, the Arts door is the better buy, and it is the one most students should be listing.
Creative writing is taught seriously at Maynooth, Galway and ATU Sligo, with workshops, feedback and portfolios. Elsewhere English means reading and criticism, with writing as the output rather than the subject. These are different degrees for different people, and the titles tell you which is which.
Teaching is where most of these graduates end up, and it is the only part of the field with rules. Confirm that the course meets the Teaching Council subject criteria for English, and think hard about a second teachable subject. English paired with history, Irish or a language makes you far easier for a school to timetable.
Every department has a personality: one leans medieval and Renaissance, another Irish writing, another contemporary and theory. Pull up the actual second and third-year module lists for your shortlist and compare them side by side. Ten minutes there will tell you more than any open day talk.
People will tell you an English degree is not practical. They are wrong, and the evidence is that its graduates are everywhere: in classrooms, newsrooms, courtrooms, publishing houses and technology firms. What the degree trains is the ability to read something difficult, work out what it is doing, and explain it clearly to someone else, which is close to the most transferable skill there is. Choose the course whose reading list you actually want to read, then make sure you leave with something written to your name.