ESOL Opt-In Program Policies

Appointment Policies and Restrictions

Who may join the ESOL Opt-in Program

If you are a multilingual student, staff, or faculty at George Mason University and need weekly appointments to work on your writing projects, you may apply to join the ESOL Opt-in Program.

You are responsible for keeping track of your appointment schedule. To see your list of appointments, log in to the Writing Center schedule, hover over the "Welcome" menu, and click on "My appointments."

Cancellation Policy

For students with one appointment per week: If you cancel more than 3 appointments in the semester, we will release you from the program, cancel the remaining appointments, and allow you to book appointments on your own for the rest of the semester.

For students with two appointments per week: If you cancel more than 6 appointments in the semester, we will release you from the program, cancel the remaining appointments, and allow you to book appointments on your own for the rest of the semester.

If you need to cancel an appointment, please do so at least 2 hours before the appointment start time.

Late Policy

For students with in-person and Zoom appointments: If you are more than 10 minutes late for your appointment, your appointment will be considered as a no-show and the session may be given to a walk-in student.

For students with written feedback appointments: If you have not uploaded your draft by the beginning of the session, your appointment will be considered as a no-show. (Please note that the system prevents you from uploading a draft after the appointment start time.)

No-Show Policy

It is very important that you cancel in advance if you cannot make it to a meeting, as we typically have a long list of students waiting to book an  appointment. If you miss more than 2 appointments without canceling, we will release you from the program and cancel your remaining appointments. You will not be able to make appointments for the rest of the semester. This policy applies to all students who use the Writing Center.

Schedule Changes

Once we have made your consultation schedule, we are willing to adjust that schedule once to accommodate changes in your class/work schedule. If there are 1-2 specific days in the semester that you need to change (but not the entire schedule), please contact us at esloptin@gmu.edu at least 1 week in advance. If you would like to make further changes to your consultation schedule, you may need to withdraw from the Opt-in program and book appointments on your own.

Exceptions

If you have serious personal situations, struggles, or problems, such as health issues, family issues, transportation issues, etc., it is your responsibility to contact us at esloptin@gmu.edu about the situation, so we can request/provide special accommodations for scheduling or other changes. Feel free to be in conversation with Dr. Idée Edalatishams at iedalati@gmu.edu about any issues or concerns that may come up.