What is EVOS?
EVOS is an optimization program – a computerized algorithm – that determines the best possible schedule for you based on your preferences, the preferences of your classmates, and course availability. The result is the best possible set of Patient Care schedules for your class as a whole.
How does EVOS work?
EVOS matches student course preferences to course availability. You and your classmates’ preferences are reviewed by EVOS simultaneously to determine the best possible schedule for every student. Every student’s preferences are taken into account.
Why EVOS instead of student surveys (AKA how things used to be done)?
Short answer: Efficiency, time to results, equity, and ability to quantify & evaluate results.
Long answer: Past surveys collected students’ top priority clerkship (just one) and ranking of sites within that clerkship, and schedules were then created manually. It took months (literally). In addition, which student do we begin with – after all someone had to get scheduled first and someone had to get scheduled last. Schedules were adjusted to be as equitable as possible of course, but there was no way to know exactly when the best outcome was reached and when student preferences were maximized. It was a Herculean effort to get schedules out, and impossible to create multiple versions to find the best overall schedule for everyone.
The beauty of EVOS is that it does more than a survey and manual scheduling can. It’s more efficient, faster, considers all students’ preferences simultaneously, and stops when the schedules produced are the best possible set of schedules as measured quantitatively.
What do I get after EVOS runs?
A complete Patient Care schedule for Spring 2024 – Winter 2025 (see exact dates here).
What won’t EVOS do?
EVOS won’t: Give you everything you preference.
EVOS won’t: Override enrollment maximums (i.e. put more students in a course than there is room for).
EVOS won’t: Open back up if you miss the preferencing end date and time. It closes, starts computing, and hangs out a do-not-disturb sign.
EVOS won’t: Read your mind! EVOS will work with whatever you enter, so it’s very important to follow the specific instructions. Translation: READ THE DIRECTIONS!
THE BOTTOM LINE
EVOS will schedule your Patient Care clerkships so that you – and all your classmates – are making unimpeded progress toward your degree, and EVOS will do it via an equitable mathematical process that considers all student preferences simultaneously.