When I have been involved in the recruitment of apprentices (albeit not on this scale) a similar methodology applies. Regardless of geographical location, if all of the best candidates are based in one area we will concentrate on their recruitment rather than waste time with other applications. Same rule will probably apply here as it's common sense, however statistically you are likely to see an even proportion of high quality candidates over the 3 FTO's due to the sheer volume of applications made which is why the likelihood of even student intake is high between each FTO.