How the College Allocations Process Works

How the Allocation Process Works for Undergraduates

When the automated undergraduate allocation process commences the below steps are followed:

1.	Applicants are sorted into two groups: Those who have ranked college preferences. Those who have not ranked college preferences.
2.	The preference group is ordered randomly.
3.	Starting with the first applicant record in the preference group, the process looks at college 1 preference and attempts to make an accept decision. If sufficient offers are available for the algorithm criteria (department and fee status) then this will succeed with a preliminary allocation.
4.	If the limit in a specific college for the number of offers has been reached, the applicant will be passed to a temporary holding table.
5.	Steps 3 and 4 repeat for all applicants in the preference group for college 1.
6.	The holding table is ordered randomly. Taking the holding table the process looks at college 2 preference and attempts to make an accept decision. If sufficient offers are available for the algorithm criteria (department and fee status) then this will succeed with a preliminary allocation.
7.	The process repeats steps 3-5 for subsequent ranked preferences.
	NOTE - If the applicant has only submitted partial preference rankings (e.g. ranked 5 out of 16 colleges) but an accept decision was not made for any of their preferences, they will be placed in a passed table.
8.	The passed table is then ordered randomly.
9.	The process randomly orders any remaining colleges not ranked as preferences to make an accept decision for the first college on the list. If sufficient offers are available for the algorithm criteria, this will succeed with a preliminary allocation.
10.	If the limit in the specific college has been reached, the process will move onto the next college in the randomly ordered list and repeat step 9.
11.	The process then moves to the next applicant in the passed table and repeats steps 9 and 10.
12.	The process will now look at the group who have not ranked college preferences. The process will randomly order all colleges to make an accept decision for the first college in the list.
13.	If the limit in the specific college has been reached the process will move onto the next college in the randomly ordered list.
14.	The process will repeat steps 12 and 13 until all applicants are successfully preliminarily allocated.

At the end of this process, all offer holders will have received a preliminary membership allocation. The process will then continue to run on a daily basis and allocate future applicants who receive later offers accordingly.

The process uses offer factors worked out by the Recruitment and Admissions Office for both Home and International students. These offer factors calculate the number of offers required, based on historical statistical evidence, to fill the place. This differs by department and fee status.