as far as hospital placement is concerned; after your first term you have the opportunity to go and visit the various hospitals the school offers as a base. some time later, say the summer between your first and second year, the school lets you know the number of slots available at each hospital. throughout most of the summer, there is a computerized program where you log in and select your hospital of choice. then on the first or second day of your second year, they close the computer system (don't wait until the last second, some people got screwed by doing that this year). at that point the lists are final. if your hospital is either below the set number of students or even in number of students to positions, congratulations you just got yourself a hospital without a fight. if your hospital is overbooked, then all of those students who selected that hospital have to come to a meeting two nights later, where they draw names out of a hat to select who will go to the overbooked hospital. This occurs for all the hospitals that are overbooked. the nonpicked students then put their names into the hat for whatever hospitals are remaining. those students who already selected the unberbooked hospital are exempt from the lottery, they already have it and do not have to fight for it. its a nasty evening to be honest, i luckily got my first choice without having to go to lottery.
automatic placements into a hospital are pretty sparse, you need to fulfill pretty significant criteria to get it; and owning a house, spouses with jobs, kids etc are not considered qualifications. it may seem harsh, but its really the only way to make it a level playing field. hope that helps.
