Eligibility check
All undergraduate offer holders who are eligible for college allocation are included in the allocation process.

Random ordering of applicants
Eligible applicants are placed into a randomly ordered list. Randomisation is used to ensure equitable treatment where demand exceeds available capacity.

Assessment against first preference
Starting with the first applicant, the system considers the applicant’s highest-ranked college preference.

Where capacity remains available for the applicant’s academic department and fee status, a preliminary college allocation is made.

Capacity limits reached
If the capacity limit for a particular college has been reached for the relevant criteria, the applicant is temporarily held for further consideration against their remaining preferences.

Consideration of subsequent preferences
Applicants who could not be allocated to their first preference are randomly reordered and considered against their second preference, and then any further ranked preferences, following the same process.

Applicants with partial preferences
Where an applicant has ranked fewer colleges and cannot be allocated to any of their stated preferences, they are placed into a further allocation stage.

Allocation to non-preferred colleges
Applicants in this stage are randomly ordered again. The system then considers colleges not listed as preferences, allocating the first available college that has remaining capacity for the applicant’s criteria.

Completion of preliminary allocations
This process continues until all eligible applicants have received a preliminary college membership allocation.

Ongoing allocations
The process is repeated regularly to allocate college membership to applicants who receive academic offers later in the admissions cycle.