<p>I'm planning on being a business major with either a Finance or Management emphasis. In GENERAL (I know there is variation) do business majors write a crapload of long stupid papers?</p>
<p>If you don’t, then I highly suggest you take a lot of classes that do.
Writing is one of THE most important skills to fine-tune in college, regardless of your major.</p>
<p>I agree with what roneald said. Communication OVERALL is a huge part of business</p>
<p>There is a large difference between business writing and the english classes you are probably used to. Business schools teach you to cut the shakespeare ******** and just be as concise and to the point as possible. What this means is that you will rarely have to write anything over 3 pages with pure text, and when you do, it’s usually part of a group project.</p>
<p>What jnpn said is very true, business writing is probably way different than the normal writing youre accustomed to.</p>
<p>That being said, one of the biggest thing employers look for is the ability to write. You really think a consulting firm is going to want to hire someone who doesn’t know how to articulate their ideas from mind to page? I’m stocking my business cirriculum chock full with poly sci, history, and philosophy classes, not only so that I’ll become a better writer, but unlike my business class professors, professors from those classes will be able to attest on a first hand level my ability to write. Honestly firms and grad schools don’t care about your major, they care about your gpa, level of intelligence, ability to think critically, and ability to write.</p>
<p>Since you said “crapload of long stupid papers”, I would have to say no. Your not required to write a 4-5 page essay that requires quotations, a thesis statement, or analysis of a literary work. You simply need to be able to communicate your ideas and thoughts in writing but probably in a concise and understandable format. Mostly I’m guessing they would be short memos to your boss or coworkers explaining your ideas or what should be done in a given situation. I’m sure a field like law would probably require excellent writing skills and the ability to write multiple pages over business.</p>
<p>I’ll keep that in mind about developing writing skills. And I’ve heard Psych is a good thing to take as well. True?</p>
<p>If you just take your core classes, you’ll be okay in writing. You’re going to have to write a lot of business memos, business plans, make business presentations in your business classes anyways. Here’s an example of “business writing” [UBS</a> - 10 Surprises in 2009](<a href=“http://www.scribd.com/doc/11041775/UBS-10-Surprises-in-2009]UBS”>http://www.scribd.com/doc/11041775/UBS-10-Surprises-in-2009)</p>
<p>Thanks for showing me that! That seems easy enough.</p>
<p>Yeah… uh… if you are getting away without writing real essays (and therefore not learning how to write), you’re not going to get a good education regardless of how well your school is listed in the rankings. </p>
<p>I go to a pretty good undergraduate program at a school that only offers a degree in Business Management. I’m writing around three 4-5 pages essays for every non-technical business class (i.e. everything that isn’t pure math, finance, or economics… with a strong emphasis on pure) with three 4-5 page essays, and two 10-20+ page essays for every liberal arts class. This doesn’t include the three presentations that are mandatory for every beginning and intermediate class (business and liberal arts) and the 30-40 page reports that are required for any reasonable group project (intermediate and advanced level classes, including finance and economics). </p>
<p>Rhetoric is absolutely mandatory where I go (we get a year of it). In addition to learning writing and public speaking, we are required to have several one on one and group sessions with a public speech consultant for our beginning classes. All of this doesn’t include the politicking that goes along with our graded group assignments (we have one year-long freshman project that is guaranteed to bring out the absolute worst in people) nor the extra classes that are required for new students who don’t meet the minimum standards for writing/grammar as determined by their professors. </p>
<p>If you aren’t required to write, you aren’t going to get the most for your money.</p>
<p>Edit: As one poster pointed out, business writing, or good writing in general, isn’t anything like they teach in the public schools. BS isn’t allowed.</p>