Students trapped in the centralized university admissions system

The fate of millions of Turkish students depends on the formula for high school performance that is decided by the Central University Admissions Authority. Through the years, two different formulas are being used. We show that the formula which aims to help students with weak socioeconomic backgrounds inadvertently benefits the students from private high schools. We also show that the rankings of some students are affected tremendously by the choice of the formula. Since all the universities are governed by the centralized system, the students who are affected adversely by the decision on the formula are not able to alleviate the burden by applying to a university outside the system.