Having a single lottery number for all schools will increase your chances of getting into the school of your choice. It also increases your chance of matching to the top choice. However, it does not guarantee your admission. The chances of being admitted depend on how many people apply and the availability of seats.
Some parents believe that having a single lottery number for all schools is unfair. They say that students with good numbers are more likely to be assigned to their preferred school in separate lotteries. It is not clear how this process works.
Each school’s lottery number is generated using class level information from the Registrar’s Office. These numbers are compared to each other left to right in increasing order. The lower the lottery number, the earlier the appointment time. Higher lottery numbers have later appointments.
The department said that the lottery numbers were made up of long strings of numbers and letters. They said the numbers were meant to help tiebreakers in competitive funding applications.
The numbers are then posted on the Housing Portal and emailed to students. They are weighted by class level. A group of three applicants with a number close to 15 is a different group than a group of three with a number close to 9. The numbers are then ranked. The winner’s number must be within fifteen of the total.
The lottery number is based on a random number generator. The random number generator is supposed to produce uniformly distributed numbers.