How Shuffle Requests are Processed

The Shuffle procedure will sort all student clerkship requests and process them in the following order:

  • Drop requests
  • Add requests
  • Replace requests

Drop Requests

Drop requests fall into two categories. The first set of drop requests are clerkships which a student has specified he no longer desires. From the website, a student can drop any clerkship in their current schedule.

The 2nd instance of drop requests is when a student decides he doesn't want to register for a clerkship which he got notified for during the previous shuffle. A student has a set number of days to determine whether he wants to accept a clerkship. The number of days a student has to make this choice is usually 7 days. If a student doesn't accept the clerkship within this time period, the clerkship automatically becomes free for the next student wanting this clerkship. If a student accepts the clerkship, the clerkship status will change from a notified state to a drawn state. For more information on clerkship states, please see clerkship states.

Add Requests

A student can request a clerkship for a particular time period. If a position in the clerkship is available and the student's schedule is free in this period, a clerkship with the status of notified will be added to the student's schedule. The student's schedule is then searched. If a duplicate clerkship is found, it is automatically dropped from the student's schedule. If a student has other "ADD" requests specifying this same time slot, they will be ignored.

If the clerkship is not available, a clerkship with the status of waitlist will be added to the student's schedule. If the student's schedule is not free, i.e. the student has a clerkship with the status of notified or drawn during this time period, the "ADD" request will be ignored.

Students can also use a special field called Only1 to tell the Shuffle procedure to only choose one of the requests from a list of clerkship requests. These requests can be "ADD" or "REPLACE" requests. For example, a student can place the number "1" in four clerkship requests. This indicates to the Shuffle procedure to process the requests and only choose one of these clerkships if it is available. If the shuffle procedure finds that the first clerkship is not available, the student will be placed on the waitlist for this clerkship. If the 2nd request is available, the clerkship will be added to the student's schedule with the status of notified. The 3rd and 4th student requests will be ignored. This gives students the ability to still get their first choice of clerkships if a position becomes available in their first clerkship selection. If none of the Only1 selections is available, the student will be placed on the waitlist for all clerkships in the Only1 group.

During an "ADD" request, Only1 requests may fail because a student already has a clerkship scheduled for this period. Additional "ADD" requests marked with this Only1 character will still be processed.

There is a maximum limit of waitlists a student can be on in any one period. The default maximum is 5 waitlists. If a student tries to add more than 5 clerkships to a particular period, the additional "ADD" requests will be ignored.

Replace Requests

When a student creates a "REPLACE" request for a particular clerkship and the requested clerkship is available, the clerkship will be added to the student's schedule with a status of notified . In addition, the clerkship(s) which are being replaced will automatically be dropped from the student's schedule. If a student has other "REPLACE" requests specifying this same time slot, they will be ignored.

If the desired clerkship is not available, the clerkship will be added to the student's schedule with a status of waitlist. Since no clerkships are being replaced, no clerkships will be dropped from the student's schedule.

Students can also use a special field called Only1 to tell the Shuffle procedure to only choose one of the requests from a list of clerkship requests. These requests can be "ADD or "REPLACE" requests. For example, a student can place the number "1" in four clerkship requests. This indicates to the Shuffle procedure to process the requests and only choose one of these clerkships if it is available. If the shuffle procedure finds that the first clerkship is not available, the student will be placed on the waitlist for this clerkship. If the 2nd request is available, the clerkship will be added to the student's schedule with the status of notified. The clerkship(s) currently taking the time slot for the requested clerkship will be automatically dropped from the student's schedule. The 3rd and 4th student requests will be ignored. This gives students the ability to still get their first choice of clerkships if a position becomes available in their first clerkship selection. If none of the Only1 selections is available, the student will be placed on the waitlist for all clerkships in the Only1 group.

There is a maximum limit of waitlists a student can be on in any one period. The default maximum is 5 waitlists. If a student tries to add more than 5 clerkships to a particular period, the additional "REPLACE" requests will be ignored.

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