Interface Assignment

Group 9

Kylie Foradori, Rasha Yatmeen, Miriam Ponce-Vasquez, Kejoe Brown, Lauren Jackson,
Monika Brazinskaite, Gabriel Herschel

Article: A Mathematical Programming Approach to Applicant Selection for a Degree Program

Based on Affirmative Action
 Optimization programming has been applied in various sectors to address different challenges. Notably, this

technique was used in a school to facilitate the selection of a program's applicants. The University of Chile, in

collaboration with Chile's mining companies, is said to run a master’s degree program (Durán, Guillermo, and Rodrigo

278). Remarkably, the initiative focused on addressing challenges in the country concerning social and human capital

development. Integer linear programming was applied to select applicants who qualified for the master’s program (Durán,

Guillermo, and Rodrigo 279). 

         Outstandingly, the University of Chile focused on selecting the best applicants to join a master’s program (Durán,

Guillermo, and Rodrigo 278). Several aspects were considered to determine if an applicant met the required qualifications.

The project’s purpose was to show the application of linear programming models in accomplishing the applicants’

selection process (Durán, Guillermo, and Rodrigo 279). Notably, manual procedures could not be applied to achieve the

success of the process. Mathematical modeling and linear programming were used to enhance the success of the

admission process (Durán, Guillermo, and Rodrigo 279). Remarkably, the project offered a description of various

mathematical or optimization models applied to the applicants' selection process. 

The techniques being evaluated incorporated different selection criteria. Aspects such as lower-income-quintile,

gender, and non-Santiago-region were considered during the admission process (Durán, Guillermo, and Rodrigo 280).

Conclusions were made that mathematical programming and OR can contribute to the improvement of the applicants'

selection process (Durán, Guillermo, and Rodrigo 287). Notably, various variations were witnessed in the admission

criteria can be eliminated using these models.

The application of linear or optimization programming has been witnessed in various organizations. The

University of Chile used this technique to enhance the selection process of new applicants for a specific program. The

mathematical or linear programming models were found to provide robust solutions within a short period. The

contributions of the OR and mathematical programming to social policy are associated with the application’s success.

Some of the advantages realized through the mathematical tools include the improvement of transparency during the

applicants’ selection process. Manual approaches were found to be inappropriate. Since the linear programming

approaches can provide the best solution within the shortest time, organizations should be encouraged to implement them

in their processes. 
 For this application there were three mathematical models that were used. The first model that was used was to

maximize the sum of the scores assigned to the selected applicants, the second minimizes the sum of their rankings, and

the third minimizes the ranking of the last candidate selected (Durán, Guillermo, and Rodrigo 280). Some key decision

variables are 1: if applicant i is selected and 0 otherwise. Model 2 is very similar to Model 1, except in Model two instead

of going by score they are going by rank. The objective here being that it is to minimize the sum of the selected

applicants’ rankings (Durán, Guillermo, and Rodrigo 281). Model 3 according to the article states that the variable is to

select the applicant that has the best possible ranking and the objective of this model is to minimize the ranking of the last

selected applicant (Durán, Guillermo, and Rodrigo 281). In all Model 3 the y variable is the relative position that is greater

than or equal to selected applicants. 

The first key constraint of the study is, the total applicants selected were predetermined by the organizers of the

program. This number of applicants was 53 in 2007, before dropping to 51 in 2008, then dropping to a low of 47 in 2009.

The second consideration is, the percentage of selected applicants must be at least (m) percent of women. In this case, the

value of (m) used every year was at least 30%. 

Another constraint was, ensuring that at least the specific percent (r) of the applicants selected came from non-

Santiago regions. However, unlike with other constraints, the value of (r), in this case, varied in different years. While it

maintained 60 applicants in both 2007 and 2009, in 2008 (r) was at a low of 55. Selecting applicants from lower-four

income quintiles represented another key constraint where at least (q)% of them had to be chosen. The (q)% value used in

both 2009 and 2009 was 80, while in 2008, the value stood at 70.

The last key constraint of this study required that the applicants selected must not have been engineers with the

minimum requirement represented by the (p)% value. Initially, these constraints were not used in both 2007 and 2008, but

it was only added in 2009, where a (p) of 30 was used. The models of this study were run using these constraints to ensure

that the selected candidates met these minimum criteria. These constraints impacted the main objectives function values,

mainly when the first-quintile concept was applied. 

There are several major impacts that came from the usage of this model. For starters, each year saw an increase of

admitted applicants into the program, with an increase of 7.5% (2007), 3.9% (2008), and 29.5% (2009) in the first three years

of the model into place. (Durán, Guillermo, and Rodrigo 286). In addition to this increase of enrolled applicants, this model
was able to reach the minima required goals of non Santiago-region students and female criteria in the first year. On the flip

side, however, we did not reach the minima required of lower income students, which is something that may have been

reached with different constraints or a new model. Following this year, the model would go on to barely reach these goals

in both 2008 and 2009.

 As for the steps that make up the model and report, the program would go on to be slightly affected by the gender

removal in the model. If the female constraints are removed, only one additional woman would be selected, with one added

man in the program. Besides this, much of the program would stay the same. It is, however, when you remove the physical

evaluation, things begin to change. The next two models with this reflected change shows a shortened list of applicants,

which means overall less potential for the program, though, the models used has allowed the needed restrictions and

allows the programs to have a complete understanding of what needs to be done. In addition, it allows for selected applications

to receive $75,000 in grants to help grow their knowledge and work (Durán, Guillermo, and Rodrigo 288).

According to the authors, “Finding robust solutions to the admissions problem in a matter of minutes using 

manual techniques would have been impossible. The mathematical tools developed for this task also had the added advantage

of bringing transparency to the selection process” (Durán, Guillermo, and Rodrigo 287). The use of a mathematical model

showed that the better the model is used the fairer their admissions process will be. Therefore, preventing the rejection of

students who fulfilled the requirements of the university. 

Another key lesson learned and observed by the University was how social policy issues were positively affected

using OR and mathematical programming techniques. The mathematical models along with the key constraints helped

identify the best fit applicants in regard to the equity criteria. As the program’s academic director, Patricio Meller

observed, that the program’s first graduating class performed extremely well. Therefore, it reaffirms that this type of

positive discrimination can help change the lives of students from lower-income families (Durán, Guillermo, and Rodrigo

287). 
 Work Cited
Durán, Guillermo, and Rodrigo Wolf-Yadlin. "A mathematical programming approach to applicant selection for a degree

program based on affirmative action." Interfaces 41.3 (2011): 278-288.