[jltsiren]

In one model, when the universities negotiate for government funding, one key factor is the number of degrees of various kinds they are expected to produce. That has interesting effects on admissions.

Some fields have highly competitive admissions, because the number of people willing to study them far exceeds the demand for graduates. This may be because the field promises a well-paying high-status job (e.g. law, medicine) or because it is inherently interesting (e.g. social sciences, biology). In other fields, particularly in STEM, admissions can be easy, because the demand exceeds the number of capable and interested students.