Self-Directed Writing - FAQ

The Writing Course Finder privileges student autonomy, agency, and MMC students are independent, introspective, and innovative. Entrusting you with the direction of your education from the moment you enter the college aligns with, and enacts, our mission of “fostering intellectual achievement and personal growth”

Research shows that self-placement is on par with, and often outperforms, conventional placement systems, and that student confidence in their decision builds classroom environments on which students reflect positively (Royer and Gilles, Directed Self-Placement: Principles and Practices, 2003).

Self-placement is a more equitable system of placement, and equity is central to MMC’s Students who were previously tracked because of language ability, learning disabilities, poor test-taking, or any other number of “disadvantages” in the context of educational standardization, have the unique opportunity to evaluate how this tracking factored into their academic journeys at the critical impasse of entering college—what Kylie Kenner calls the “social justice implications” of self-placement (“Student Rationale for Self-Placement,” 2016).

You will have until the first week of classes [date] to switch into another course option if you feel that the course you are enrolled in is not at your

We believe that you know yourself best, and that you will choose the course or course pair that best meets your needs at this point in your educational

Our labs give you class time to work on drafts and revisions for your main You will build skills and develop and refine a writing process that works better for you—with hands-on support from your instructor. If you feel that you could use this additional support for any reason whatsoever, we encourage you to take advantage of our lab option!