GAW & cherrybim: I know that the analogy with the residency match program isn’t perfect. Students often move to other cities for residency, for one thing, and all of these students are staying in Lakewood. Also, I understand that there just aren’t enough slots to go around. I do think, though, that a process that would match each student to only one school would help conserve limited slots. Also, I think the “scrambling” to expand classes or open new schools to fit in the girls who haven’t been accepted into any existing slots should take place before any letters are sent out. From what I’ve read & heard (I have never lived in Lakewood) new classes & schools must be established every year anyways. But if this process is completed before any acceptance letters are mailed, none of the girls have to deal with the stress & embarrassment of not knowing where they’ll go.
I have a relative who went through scramble day (he was promised a shomer shabbos residency at one program, ranked only that program, & then the program director decided to rank him last) & I was struck by the fact that 20-something year old adults going through the scramble day process are treated with more dignity & respect than these young Lakewood teenagers. And that is simply wrong.