Strategic Priority-Based Course Allocation

We present the conditional acceptance mechanism for the course allocation problem. This mechanism combines features of the immediate acceptance and the student optimal stable mechanisms. It implements the set of stable allocations in both Nash and undominated Nash equilibria under substitutable preferences and priorities. We model the post-allocation adjustment mechanism using a repeated version of the mechanism. This repeated mechanism reduces the wastefulness of out-of-equilibrium play and implements the set of stable allocation in Subgame Perfect Nash equilibrium under slot-specific preferences and priorities. Both mechanisms are easily implementable, reduce the complexity of eliciting students' preferences, and mimic the features of the mechanisms currently in use.