Student FAQ

All writers can benefit from talking about their writing. In fact, our tutors sometimes come in for tutoring, and faculty and staff occasionally use our services as well.

Just visit our online Scheduler. If it’s your first visit, please click the blue link that says “Register for an account.”

The Center conducts roughly 1000 tutorials a year, but our weekly business fluctuates. For the most part, most students do not have to wait more than a day or two for an appointment. To view our current hours, please view our Scheduler.

No, our services are free to SMCM students, staff, and faculty.

The Center is located on the first floor of the main Library on the pond side of the building, and there is a bench available where you can wait for your tutor. If you scheduled a Zoom eTutorial, you can open up your appointment form at the start of your appointment and click the link to join.

Tutorials are usually 30-60 minutes in length, and you can select the length of your appointment when scheduling.

Sure. We usually allow students up to 90 minutes of tutoring per week. The weekly limit depends on how busy we are, so it may fluctuate up and down during the semester, and our Scheduler automatically limits the number of appointments per student per. Walk-In hours also count towards your weekly total.

If you click on your appointment in the Scheduler, the appointment form will open, and there will be a button at the bottom you can press to cancel. Appointments can be canceled as late as 1 minute before the appointment is scheduled to begin, but we ask that you please cancel as far in advance as possible and avoid scheduling appointments you think you may not be able to keep. If we notice that you are canceling routinely or excessively, we may require that you visit the Center only on a Walk-In basis instead.

Yes, we sometimes have cancellations or are able to add extra hours when our schedule fills, so we offer a Wait List option. To join our Wait List and be notified of cancellations or openings, click the waiting list link next to the day of the week on our Scheduler.

Sure! The tutors are happy to help with any stage of the writing process, from brainstorming and planning to final revisions.

Yes, but we strongly recommend that you schedule at least a day in advance in order to leave yourself enough time to revise before your assignment is due.

If you are significantly late, the tutor may mark you as a No-Show in order to make that appointment slot available to someone else. If you are only slightly late, your appointment will just be a bit shorter.

Yes, we can usually help with that.

We can’t check them for you, but we may be able to answer your questions or direct you to resources that can help. Our tutors come from different majors, so they do not necessarily have mastery of or even direct experience with particular style manuals.

Yes, we can usually help you with non-academic writing tasks, such as cover letters and personal statements.

Maybe. Please check our “Meet the Tutors” page to see if we currently have a tutor who has experience with that language.

No. The tutors are not graders, so they cannot predict scores or performance on assignments.

We can help with writing and speaking tasks in any discipline, but we do not offer subject-specific or study skills tutoring.

You can see the tutors’ majors and minors on our “Meet the Tutors” page, and you can make an appointment with a particular tutor by visiting our Scheduler. Please keep in mind that selecting tutors by discipline or major may limit your appointment time options and that we cannot guarantee the availability of particular tutors.

We do not allow off-schedule appointments. Instead, please join our Wait List by clicking the Waiting List link under day of the week on our Scheduler. The Waiting List will inform you of openings.

We sometimes have to modify your appointments, and the system will automatically notify you. We generally won’t change the focus, length, or time of your appointment, but we will occasionally have to change which tutor you are scheduled to see. Very rarely, we may have to cancel your appointment and ask you to reschedule.

Our tutors can help with any stage of writing or speaking assignments. The process for both types of assignments is similar, so the tutoring process is also quite similar.

No, the tutor rooms are reserved strictly for Center use, so they are not available as study rooms. The Library has designated study rooms on the second floor.

There are several possible reasons for this:

1. If it is your first visit to the Center, you will need to create an account. Our Scheduler is run by an outside source, so your St. Mary’s credentials won’t work automatically. Just click the blue link on the log-in page that says “Register for an account.”
2. If you have missed two appointments at the Center without canceling, the Scheduler will automatically lock your account. E-mail Mandy Taylor at apheatwole@smcm.edu, and she can reactivate your account.
3. If you have repeatedly tried to login to your account with an incorrect password, the Scheduler will temporarily lock your account. Wait a while, make sure you have the correct password, and try again. If it still doesn’t work, reset your password.
4. If you have reset your password but it still won’t let you login, e-mail Mandy Taylor at apheatwole@smcm.edu, and she can reset your password.

Required tutorials generally work the same way as regular tutorials, but here are a few tips:

1. Schedule an appointment as far in advance as possible. We try to extend hours to keep pace with demand, but we cannot always do that on short notice.
2. Consider what questions you have and what you hope to get out of the tutorial.
3. Consider any special instructions your professor may have provided.
4. If you need us to let your professor know that you completed a tutorial, please let the tutor know or contact Mandy Taylor at apheatwole@smcm.edu.

We do not have separate Walk-In Hours as our Scheduler is designed for appointments. If a tutor is not available during the time you want to come in, you can always follow the directions on the Scheduler to join the Wait List. Make an appointment now.

We can’t proofread it for you, but we will be happy to guide you through the process.

We do not have a service specifically for SMPs, but you can always work on sections of your SMP to work on in regular tutorials. If you need to work on longer sections, we recommend you make multiple appointments.

Absolutely. We write appointment summaries after each appointment, so just ask the tutor to e-mail the summary to your professor. If you forget to ask the tutor, just e-mail Mandy Taylor at apheatwole@smcm.edu, and she can retrieve the summary.

No. All of our tutors are capable of helping with any writing or speaking assignment, but they come from a variety of majors. Click here to meet our current tutors.

We usually send out an e-mail in the fall semester with a link to the tutor application. Tutors hired in the fall will take a 1-credit training course the following spring. After completing the practicum and passing a proficiency exam, they begin working as paid tutors at the Center in fall. We only hire tutors as needed, so we do not necessarily accept applications every fall. For more information, please check the link.

Please e-mail your question to Mandy Taylor at apheatwole@smcm.edu.