Who is eligible to preference?
All current MS 2s who will be taking their first Patient Care clerkship in Spring Quarter 2027 or Summer Quarter 2027 are eligible to preference.
All OMS students entering in Winter Quarter 2027 are eligible to preference.
All MSTP students returning to SOM coursework in Spring Quarter 2027 are eligible to preference.
Note: WRITE and Olympia LIC students do not enter preferences as your schedule has been created by your program.
I’m an MS 3 who has done some – but not all – of my Patient Care clerkships, so I’ll still have some left to do when Spring Quarter 2027 quarter rolls around. Can I preference for those?
Maybe.
You are eligible to preference if you passed Step 1 or have taken Step 1 for the first time on or before September 24, 2026.
To keep things equitable, there are limits on the number of preferences you may make depending on how many clerkships need to be scheduled:
| Number of Patient Care clerkships needed | Total number of preferences you may make |
| One clerkship | 3 |
| Two clerkships | 6 |
| Three clerkships | 9 |
| Four clerkships | 12 |
| Five clerkships | 15 |
You are ineligible to preference, however, if any one of these circumstances fit you:
- You have not taken Step 1 on or before September 24, 2026.
- You did not pass your most recent Step 1 attempt.
- You have a grade of Incomplete in more than one Patient Care clerkship.
- Any of your remaining clerkships are to be scheduled by the department (typically occurs if a student has to repeat a clerkship).
- You are returning from a leave of absence in Autumn 2026 or later.
I’m a Track student. How should I enter preferences so that my schedule has 24 weeks at my Track location?
Your first four preferences MUST be Track selections. That means your first four preferences must be at sites in your Track or be the zone of your Track.
You can absolutely make more than four Track preferences, and almost all Track students (like 99%) do just that. Absolutely.
Your first preference should be what is most important to you in Track, so select clerkship, time frame, and Track site. Your second preference should be what’s next important to you in Track, and so on. As you get close to the bottom of your preference list it should be ok to choose non-Track sites if you’d like.
What happens if one of your first four preferences isn’t at a Track site? EVOS will readjust your preferences to ensure that happens, so save a bit of electricity for the planet and just follow the requirement.
Note that elective/time off does not count as a Track selection for your first four preferences.
Can I make preferences for my elective/time off period?
Yes! There are no zones or sites for this option, so make sure you specify a timeframe.
What should I do during the 6-week elective/time off period? Take time off? Take an elective? Study for Step 2 CK?
The answer depends on a lot of things, including when that time is scheduled. Our best advice is to meet with your Career Advisor and/or your Learning Specialist to discuss the best options given your circumstances.
When can I sign up for an elective?
You’ll be able to sign up for electives after the Patient Care swap/trade deadline has passed and schedules are finalized. Check your inbox for more information about the elective process in late January.
I think it may take me longer than winter quarter to be ready to take Step 1. What should I do about scheduling?
From Heather McPhillips, MD, MPH, Associate Dean for Curriculum in an email to MS 2s on Tue 9/19/2023: “For those who anticipate it may take longer to complete Step 1 study (e.g. standardized-test-taking is not a strength; one or more block or thread remediations) we encourage you to submit EVOS preferences for elective/time off for Summer A or B because delays will be less disruptive to your schedules.”
After thinking about it I want to change some of my preferences. How do I do that?
You can make changes to your preferences any time while EVOS is open. To do that, just log in, go to the preference screen, and make your adjustments. Make sure to follow the directions on the preferencing landing page about how to save those changes.
Remember, once EVOS is closed it will not re-open. Preferencing closes on Thursday, October 8, 2026, at 4 PM Pacific. THIS IS A HARD CLOSE.
How do I finalize my preferences?
After reviewing your preferences and making sure you are happy with your selections, YOU MUST CLICK THE “COMPLETE” BUTTON.
Once you click the “Complete” button you will be sent to a different page. On that page YOU MUST CLICK THE “SAVE PREFERENCES” BUTTON.
Once you click the “Save Preferences” button you will see a list of what you preferenced. TAKE A SCREEN SHOT. This page is the only documentation you will receive that you successfully entered preferences.
Once you have saved your preferences you can return to eValue at any time while preferencing is open and review or edit your selections.
Preferencing closes on Thursday, October 8, 2026, at 4 PM Pacific. THIS IS A HARD CLOSE. EVOS CANNOT BE RE-OPENED FOR YOU.
Is it true that I might have to change sites for Internal Medicine (IM) and OBGyn regardless of what I preference?
That’s a possibility. EVOS will schedule you for a time frame for IM and OBGyn, but it does not guarantee the site for those clerkships. Actual IM and OBGyn site assignments may vary from what you see as site options. Students assigned to the Greater Puget Sound area may be moved to a WWAMI site, or vice versa. Sites are not finalized until you get your specific hospital/clinic assignments from these departments. Please check the IM website for important details about that clerkship. OBGyn may also change site assignments based on site constraints and availability.
All departments reserve the right to adjust schedules as needed due to drops and changes in site availability.
Since Internal Medicine (IM) rotations are 12 weeks in duration, do I need to make two preferences – one for inpatient IM and one for outpatient IM?
No. EVOS will schedule you for 12 consecutive weeks of IM.
My partner and I would like to be in same(ish) locations at the same time without much preference for what clerkship we are doing when. How should we preference?
EVOS does not have the capability to align or coordinate one student’s schedule with another student’s schedule. Because of that it’s all about preferencing, and, as noted elsewhere on our website, there are no guarantees.
We reached out to the team at EVOS about this and here’s their reply: “This one is tricky. As a general rule, I would advise not focusing on preferencing time frame preferences and focus more on zone placements for each clerkship. The more specific their preferences, the harder it will be to match them. And, of course, they should coordinate.”
I’m a WRITE student. What about preferencing for me?
WRITE students do not enter preferences – your schedule (including Surgery) has already been built by the Office of Rural Programs. You can contact them for questions at write@uw.edu.
I’m an Olympia LIC student. Do I enter my preferences?
LIC students do not enter preferences – your schedule has already been built by the LIC program.
I’m a student with DRS-approved location accommodations. How does that work with preferencing?
EVOS honors location accommodations, so if we have a letter from DRS about your location accommodation then we have programmed that into EVOS for you. That means that you will not be assigned to a site outside of your accommodation. All you have to do is preference like everyone else as EVOS will enforce the DRS site provisions.
If you want to verify that we know about your location accommodation then please email us at somreg@uw.edu.