With my application for Blackfriars, they got me to say whether I was male/female, smoker/non-smoker, vegetarian/non-vegetarian, and whether I wanted to share with male/female/both and my preferences for the other questions, and which year people I'd rather share with
You then go to a menu giving you the answers to the previous questions of the people already booked for each of the flats, and which ones have rooms left. So when I booked, I knew that I'd be staying with two girls and one guy, all 1st years.
So basically, you do get to see what year people you'll be sharing with, so it did seem pretty good
And I've been talking to people who have stayed in Blackfriars and absolutely loved it
So as far as I can see, I've made a pretty good choice!