The country's 'feeder schools' have been revealed, in a report in The Irish Independent.
A feeder school is a school from which many or most students progress to a particular higher-level educational institution.
The paper reports a record number of young people became first-year college students through the use of the CAO last year.
50,169 first-year students were recorded as it's the second consecutive year that college places increased.
Figures show that 60% of 30-34-year-olds in Ireland have a third-level qualification which places the country in the top three in the EU.
While over 46% of students for Deis schools go on to third-level education compared to more than 70% from non-Deis schools.
Data compiled by the Irish Times found 99.7% of leaving cert students from schools which charge fees progressed to third level.
South East Feeder Schools
The paper provides a table where it shows how many students in a school sat their Leaving Certificate exams and what percentage of them proceeded to college the next year. The table also shows what colleges the students went to.
In total, 7,492 students in the five counties of the South East sat their Leaving Cert in 2021, according to The Irish Independent.
In Carlow, 886 across the county sat the Leaving Cert with Tyndall College seeing 100% of students proceeding to college, followed by Gaelcholáiste Cheatharlach, Askea with 95%
Coláiste Aindriú in Bagenalstown had the lowest percentage of students attending third level with 17%.
1,076 6th year students sat the end of year state exams in Kilkenny with 100% attending college from Loreto Convent, Kilkenny while only 20& of Kilkenny City Vocational School went on to college.
In Waterford, 1,506 students sat the Leaving with 100% of pupils at Ard Scoil Na Mara, Tramore and Gaelcholáiste Phort Láirge, Waterford becoming first years at college. Dungarvan CBS saw nearly half of students (49%) attend a third-level college.
The highest number of students that sat the Leaving Cert in one county in the region was Tipperary with 2,078.
Four schools had 100% of sixth years leave for third-level institutes in 2021 (Cistercian College, Roscrea, Presentation Secondary School, Thurles, Ursuline Secondary School, Thurles and St Mary's Secondary School, Nenagh) while Nenagh College only had 45%.
Lastly, the fifth and final county in the South East, Wexford, had 1,946 pupils sitting the Leaving Cert last year. Coláiste An Átha in Kilmuckridge and Loreto Secondary School in Wexford were the only two schools in the county that recorded 100% of students who sat their final year exams attend third-level education after. The lowest percentage of pupils attending college after the Leaving Cert was Kennedy College in New Ross (35%).
The Most Popular Third-Level Colleges
For the majority of sixth-year students in Carlow schools, IT Carlow was the most popular choice of third-level education.
While for Wexford, Kilkenny and Waterford, Waterford IT was the most popular choice for the majority of students in the three counties.
Tipperary students found the University of Limerick the most popular.
