Don't Apologize for Missing a Paper Review Appointment

The Walden University Writing Center prides itself on providing Paper Review appointments to Walden University students across the globe. But have you ever wondered what happens if you make an appointment but can't meet the deadline? Not to worry! Don't let one missed appointment stand in your way from continuing to work on your academic writing.

It happens sometimes at the Writing Center: a student misses an appointment. There can be a number of reasons why this happens. Students are busy enough with schoolwork itself to also have time to work with outside services like the Writing Center. Emergencies and unforeseen events can crop up, taking time away from work. Sometimes, a student just forgets. And I am here to tell you: all of this is okay.

From time to time, the Writing Center will get responses from students apologizing profusely for missing appointments, or providing reasons and excuses. Though we always love to hear from students personally, I hope it is known that we hold no grudges and have no issues with students who miss an appointment. We completely understand.

Because the Writing Center‘s mission is to help support students, we avoid penalizing students for either policy or academic-related reasons. We also try to avoid using judgmental-sounding or discouraging language. Our goal is always to get you to come back to the Writing Center. If you miss an appointment, you should still be able to sign up for a new appointment and we will review it the way we always have. You should never worry about us chiding you for missing appointments or bothering you with multiple reminder messages.

Here’s a bit of a look behind the scenes into the Writing Center: you may think that failing to upload your paper on time is a massive inconvenience to your instructor. In fact, it is not! The worst thing that happens in this case is that your appointment will be marked as missed and a different student may take your appointment slot. We Instructors are actually pretty good at managing our time—don’t feel like you are wasting it if you miss an appointment. There are always more students to work with, and other writing-related tasks we can do.

 

This does not mean that missing appointments is not without consequences, however. According to our current appointment policies, a total of three missed appointments on myPASS will lead to a students’ account being deactivated. However, in those cases, all that is required is that you contact an administrator to have your account reactivated. We understand that sometimes multiple appointments will be canceled in a row because of unforeseen circumstances. Again, our goal is always to have more students working with the Writing Center, not less. Do not ever feel worried or ashamed to contact us at writingsupport@waldenu.edu and ask for a reactivation of your account if you miss multiple appointments.

This might be a somewhat unorthodox message for a Writing Center blog post, but my goal here is to put students more at ease. I know, having been a student myself, how mortifying it is to be late on an assignment, or forget to do it, or not do it very well. I know the feeling when a teacher is disappointed in my work. The Writing Center is a safe space where you can talk to us about all of these concerns. We serve the students first--not instructors, the academic chair, or Walden’s corporate higher-ups. So don’t feel the need to apologize: I can tell you from my own experience that my colleagues at the Writing Center are an empathetic bunch. We were once students like you, and we know how you feel.

So, now that you know all this about your Writing Center Paper Review services, isn’t it about time for you to log on and make an appointment? I’m looking forward to working with you. 

Nathan Sacks is a writing instructor in the the Walden University Writing Center. He also enjoys writing books, playing guitar, and playing with cats. 

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