Comparative advantage and preferences in college admissions in Turkey

Each year, approximately 2 million students compete for 200 thousand seats in Turkish colleges. The central authority takes students' preferences and test scores into account and place students to the limited seats of majors in the colleges. Balinski and Sönmez (1999) note that the algorithm used in this process is college optimal and propose a student optimal algorithm to overcome some deficiencies. We use 2005 data-set and show that both algorithms generate almost the same results. This reveals the simple truth in student preferences: the students want to be in majors where their comparative advantages lay.