Telling the Truth May Not Pay Off: An Empirical Studyof Centralised University Admissions in Germany

We investigate the matching algorithm used by the German central clearinghouse foruniversity admissions (ZVS) in medicine and related subjects. This mechanism consists ofthree procedures based on final grades from school ("Abiturbestenverfahren","Auswahlverfahren der Hochschulen") and on waiting time ("Wartezeitverfahren"). Whilethese procedures differ in the criteria applied for admission they all make use of prioritymatching. In priority matching schemes, it is not a dominant strategy for students to submittheir true preferences...