This article takes survey and interview responses from undergraduate writing majors in two independent writing programs as points of departure for reflection on the disciplinary work of writing studies. Though scholarship about writing majors focuses on these programs as sites for the distribution of disciplinary expertise, students in this study placed significant attention on teachers' relational labor. By focusing on teachers' demonstrations of care, students invite consideration of central concerns in writing studies: the relationship of disciplinary knowledge to teaching, the value students derive from advanced writing instruction, and the labor dynamics mobilized within writing major programs. Ultimately, while sometimes appearing to mobilize gendered cultural scripts that historically marginalized writing instruction and writing instructors, student comments about relationships suggest the importance of disciplined, informed care in disciplinary work.