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Course Waitlist Requirements

Story Prefix: WAIT Feature Area: Course Waitlists System Overview: university-reg-features.md

Single source of truth: All waitlist behavior is defined here. The course capacity doc (CAP-003) and course management doc reference this document rather than duplicating waitlist stories.

WAIT-001: Join a Waitlist​

As a Student I want to join a waitlist when a section I want is full So that I am considered for enrollment if a seat becomes available

Acceptance Criteria​

  • When a section is at capacity, the "Enroll" button is replaced by a "Join Waitlist" button on the catalogue and registration pages
  • A student can join the waitlist only if they meet the course prerequisites (AUTH-006) and have no schedule conflict with the waitlisted section
  • A student cannot join the waitlist for a section they are already enrolled in or already waitlisted for
  • Upon joining, the student receives a confirmation notification with their waitlist position (see notifications-requirements.md)

WAIT-002: View Waitlist Position and Likelihood Estimate​

As a Student I want to see my current waitlist position and an estimate of my chances of getting a seat So that I can decide whether to continue waiting or find an alternative course

Acceptance Criteria​

  • Students can view their waitlist position (e.g., "Position 3 of 12") from their registration summary page (REG-004)
  • The system displays a likelihood estimate based on historical drop rates for similar sections (e.g., "Low / Medium / High" or a percentage)
  • Position and estimate update in real time as other students join or leave the waitlist
  • Students are shown the deadline after which automatic enrollment from the waitlist will stop (WAIT-006)

WAIT-003: Automatic Enrollment from Waitlist​

As a Student on a waitlist I want to be automatically enrolled when a seat opens up So that I do not have to monitor the section and manually re-enroll

Acceptance Criteria​

  • When an enrolled student drops a section, the system immediately offers the vacated seat to the first eligible student on the waitlist
  • The waitlisted student is enrolled automatically if the waitlist deadline (WAIT-006) has not passed and the student remains eligible (no new conflicts, enrollment period still open)
  • The newly enrolled student receives a notification within 15 minutes of the seat becoming available (see notifications-requirements.md)
  • All remaining waitlisted students move up one position after the enrollment occurs
  • If the first waitlisted student is no longer eligible (e.g., has since enrolled in a conflicting section), the offer passes to the next eligible student

WAIT-004: Decline a Waitlist Spot​

As a Student I want to decline a waitlist enrollment offer if my circumstances have changed So that the seat can be offered to the next student without delay

Acceptance Criteria​

  • When automatically enrolled from the waitlist, the student has a configurable window (default: 24 hours) to decline the enrollment
  • Declining removes the student from the section roster and offers the seat to the next student on the waitlist
  • A student who declines is removed from the waitlist and must re-join from the bottom if they change their mind
  • The student receives a notification confirming the decline and informing them they have been removed from the waitlist

WAIT-005: Leave the Waitlist Voluntarily​

As a Student I want to remove myself from a waitlist at any time So that I no longer receive offers for a section I am no longer interested in

Acceptance Criteria​

  • A "Leave Waitlist" button is available on the registration summary page (REG-004) for any active waitlist entry
  • Removing oneself from the waitlist does not affect other students' positions (remaining students do not shift up)
  • The student receives a confirmation notification that they have been removed from the waitlist
  • A student who leaves can re-join the waitlist; they are placed at the end of the current queue

WAIT-006: Waitlist Enrollment Deadline​

As a Registrar I want to set a deadline after which automatic waitlist enrollments stop So that students are not unexpectedly added to courses after classes have begun

Acceptance Criteria​

  • Registrars and Administrators can configure a waitlist enrollment deadline per section (defaults to the add/drop deadline for the term — see SEM-003)
  • After the deadline, automatic enrollment from the waitlist is suspended
  • Students remaining on the waitlist after the deadline are notified that automatic enrollment has ended and instructed to contact the registrar if they still need the course
  • The deadline is displayed to waitlisted students on their registration summary page (REG-004)

WAIT-007: Priority Waitlist Rules​

As a Registrar I want to configure priority ordering rules for the waitlist So that students with greater need (e.g., graduating seniors) are served before lower-priority students

Acceptance Criteria​

  • Registrars and Administrators can define priority tiers (e.g., Seniors > Juniors > Sophomores > Freshmen, or Honors students first) per section or globally
  • When a seat becomes available, the system offers it to the highest-priority eligible student regardless of join time within the same priority tier
  • Within the same priority tier, position is determined by waitlist join time (first come, first served)
  • Priority rules are displayed to students when they join the waitlist so they understand how ordering works
  • Priority rule changes after students have joined the waitlist are applied prospectively and trigger notifications to affected students

WAIT-008: Waitlist Reports​

As an Administrator I want to view reports on waitlist sizes, trends, and movement So that I can make data-driven decisions about opening new sections or adjusting capacity

Acceptance Criteria​

  • The report displays, per section: current waitlist size, total students who joined, total auto-enrollments, total declines, total voluntary departures, and average wait time to enrollment
  • Reports can be filtered by term, department, and section
  • Sections with waitlists longer than their enrollment capacity are flagged for review
  • Reports can be exported as CSV (see reporting-requirements.md RPT-004)
  • Access is restricted to Administrators, Academic Staff, and Registrars