Allocation of college students to business majors with the aid of a linear programming model

The problem of assigning business students to program majors in a Middle Eastern College is considered in this study. An important characteristic that usually appears in this problem is a high variation in the demand for different programs. The allocation method currently used by the College is evaluated, in terms of overall satisfaction of student program preferences, by comparison with optimal allocations obtained from a linear programming formulation. The evaluation demonstrates the current method to be effective in assigning high-GPA students to their first choice programs, yet mediocre in overall satisfaction of the student preferences. Consequently, a hybrid approach that combines the current method with a linear programming model is proposed and analyzed. The results show that the hybridized method provides a solution that successfully integrates the strengths of the LP solution with the currently used method.