Reply to Fairness of Common Lottery?

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Reply to "Fairness of Common Lottery?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

So really what the algorithim (sp?) should do is (preferences aside for the moment) run a lottery for everyone who ranked school A #1, then everyone who ranked school B #1, etc.  Then after all the #1 rankings are run, they do another round (starting with whatever number they left off at at the end of the #1 rankings) for those who ranked the school #2.  That way wouldn't you fill up all the most desireable schools only with people who ranked it first?  And order the waitlist in groupings by where others ranked it?  It would make the rankings much more meaningful.  Would that lead to 12 separate lotteries for each school?  That sounds like a technical nightmare but hey, computers are smart and can do just about anything, so isn't it possible?[/quote]

The problem with that process is that if you don't get your number one you go down to the bottom of the list and you don't get another whack until the #2 round. So it's a real risk to put a popular school number one, if you don't get it by the time the lottery comes back to you everything is taken and you get nothing. So you might be tempted to put a "safety school" number one. But what if you get a good number and it's wasted on the safety school?

With the current system, you rank your choices in your true order of preference, and you get into the highest-ranked one that is available when your number comes up. No fiddling with the order changes your chances of getting picked. Since there is no "safety school" strategy, overall more people end up higher preference schools.

The problem with the lottery isn't its fairness. It is as fair as can be. The problem is the lack of good choices. People aren't ending up with no good choices because good seats are going unfilled or some children are occupying more than one. People are ending up with no good choices because there aren't enough for everyone. No amount of fiddling with the lottery is going to change that.

I'll add that before the common lottery schools ran their own lotteries, and there were unfilled seats at desirable schools. That has largely been eliminated.[/quote]

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