Im number 3 on the waiting list for Chem 1A, but my friend, who was number 27, already got into the course. What gives?
Your waiting list position number is an overall number, i.e., for the lecture part of the course, not for individual discussion or lab sections. Most likely, your friend signed up for a discussion or lab section which had fewer students on the waiting list than the one you signed up for. Remember that in such courses, there must be space available in the lecture and the discussion and/or lab section before you are enrolled from the waiting list. If your friend is in a different category than you (e.g., he is a junior and you are a freshman), it is also possible that some seats became available in the “junior” category while no seats were available in the “freshman” category (if the course was set up in this manner). Remember also that if the waiting list is manual, the instructor or department can enroll students selectively, using their own criteria, without regard to the sequence of students on the list.
