Solver Function - Allocating Choices

Hi all -

I'm trying to build an optimizer in Excel but running into some issues, so I thought I'd post here. I'm teaching a class and looking to schedule presentations throughout the semester. I have 25 students and 27 total presentation slots (3 per week for 9 weeks). I'd like to ask students to select their top 3 choices to present and please as many as possible by giving them one of their choices (with the priority being their 1st choice). Any suggestions of how to do this?

Here's the start of my workbook. The first sheet is an input page, letting me enter in the top 3 selections for each of the students. The second page is the matrix for each of the dates with a 1, 2, or 3 in the field that corresponds to their selected date.

I started building a solver function but am a little lost. Help!

Thanks Marvin - this is helpful and a good way to see choices by date. I'm trying to create something that does all the heavy lifting for me by auto-prioritizing . But that may be easier said than done. I'll keep messing around.

Thanks!
Mike