Lottery Designs: Tiered (Entries) v. Weighted

Learn the difference between a Tiered (Entries) and Weighted lottery design

What's included in this article:

• Tiered/Entries Lottery
• Weighted Lottery

Important Note: The highest priority that an application earns (is eligible for) will dictate the sub-lottery assigned to the application. The sub-lottery rules (entries, weights, quotas, etc.) and lottery design will drive the lottery placement of an application.

Tiered/Entries Lottery

A Tiered lottery design allows you to assign an Entries amount for each priority included in a sub-lottery. An application whose highest priority has more entries than other applications in that same sub-lottery will have an increased chance of being placed above the others. 

Entries do not guarantee a higher placement, they just increase the chances of higher placement within a sub-lottery.

If outlined in your lottery policy, entries can be cumulative.

• The total amount of entries that an application earns within a sub-lottery will increase the chances of being placed above other applications in that sub-lottery.

In the example above: think of entries as tickets in the (sub-lottery 1) hat.

• An application with only the Employee Child priority will have 4 tickets in the hat 
• An application with only the Board Member priority will have 1 ticket in the hat
• The Employee Child application has 4 more chances than the Board Member's 1 chance, but the Employee Child application is not guaranteed to get placed above the Board Member application
• During the lottery execution, the randomization within the sub-lottery could pull the Board Member's 1 entry/ticket out of the hat before getting to any of the 4 entries/tickets for the Employee Child

Weighted Lottery

A Weighted lottery design allows you to assign a Weight for each priority included in a sub-lottery. An application whose highest priority has more weights than other applications in that same sub-lottery will always be placed above other applications with a lower weight priority.

• Priority weight dictates the ordering of applications within a sub-lottery 
• Applications with equal weight priorities within the same sub-lottery will be randomly ordered

If outlined in your lottery policy, weights can be cumulative.

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  • The application with the highest total count of weights within a sub-lottery will be placed above applications with a lower total count of weights 

In the example above, 

• The application with the Employee Child priority with a weight of 4 will always be ordered above applications with the Sibling Attending or Board Member priorities with weights of 1. 
• Applications with either the Sibling Attending or the Board Member priority in this sub-lottery will be randomly ordered against each other, but always after applications with the Employee child priority.

If Make Weights Cumulative is enabled,

• Student A with both the Employee Child + Board Member priorities will have a total weight of 5
• Student B with both the Sibling Attending + Board Member priorities will have a total weight of 2
• Student A will be placed above Student B in the ordering of applications for this sub-lottery