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Student Waitlist overview

A waitlist is the list of students waiting for a place in one register. When a class in that register has a free place, staff offer it to a student from the waitlist, or Smart Match suggests one.

Each student has one entry per register they wait for. An entry holds:

  • The register the student wants to join. Only Perpetual and Term registers have waitlists.
  • An ability score under the register’s award scheme. It comes from the ability questions the student answered. See Manage an ability response.
  • Preferred days and times: when the student can attend. An entry with no days fits any class.
  • An earliest start date: the first day the student can start. It is empty when they can start at once.
  • Preferred instructors: a note for staff. It does not change which classes are offered or matched.
  • VIP: marks a student who should be offered a place first.
  • Purgatory strikes: how many offers were rejected or expired, and how many trials expired. See VIP and purgatory strikes.

Offer Space and Smart Match show a student only when they have an ability score under the register’s award scheme, and fewer than 3 purgatory strikes.

When staff offer a place to a student from the waitlist, the entry is set aside. It does not show in the waitlist lists while the offer or trial is open. What happens next depends on the result:

Result What happens to the entry
The student gets a full place (Confirm) The entry is removed from the waitlist.
The offer or trial is Rejected The entry comes back, with one more purgatory strike.
Remove is chosen The entry is removed from the waitlist.
The trial expires The entry comes back, with one more purgatory strike.
The trial is cancelled The entry comes back or is removed, as staff choose.
The offer expires with no answer The entry comes back, with one more purgatory strike.

See Offer and trial statuses.

  1. They get a full place in a class of the register.
  2. Staff choose Remove on an offer or trial.
  3. Staff select Delete from Waitlist. See Edit waitlist preferences.

A student can join a waitlist again when they finish a class. See Finish a student.