Timing of Preference Submissions Under the Boston Mechanism

Abstract

Exam scores are often the main criteria of students’ priorities in college admissions. Depending on the timing of preference submissions relative to the knowledge of scores, students have various degrees of information about their own priorities. I study three widely used timings under the Boston mechanism. The results suggest first, timing that is associated with less information about priorities yields higher expected utility ex-ante; Second, timing with full information about priorities generates full sorting on scores, whereas timing with less information reduces the tension of such sorting.