An Enquiry about Entry to Mathematics Courses

In recent years the people concerned with admission of students to undergraduate courses reported that a good deal of difficulty and confusion had arisen from the multiplicity of applications and from students accepting places in several Universities without notifying the Departments concerned, or withdrawing at the last minute from a place already accepted. In this way places were often kept for applicants who did not turn up in the end and vacancies were left for which suitable candidates would have been available earlier. In the discussion of this problem various remedies had been suggested, including a deposit to be paid either at the time of application or at the time when a place was offered, but it was felt that this would not be a complete remedy and in addition might, in some cases, cause hardship.