Colleges that transform undergrads into great writers?

[Anonymous]

Iowa. Sewanee. kenyon. USC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is easy. Any UK or European college.

I went to the London School of Economics for a masters after a US undergrad. Most taught masters in the UK have a 10,000 dissertation requirement that I was terrified of bc I couldn't write to save my life, I felt that college had not prepared me properly for this. I went to a good US school, too. The Europeans, on the other hand, wrote SO WELL, even the non-native English speakers. By writing well I mean they were able to create an argument and write coherently in support of it. An Italian in my program said he wrote a thesis in high school and had written a thesis for every stage of education afterwards. They could not understand why we were so afraid of writing.

So to answer your question, I'd say any US school that requires you to write a graduation thesis. Not sure if there are any, but I feel all US undergrads should have this as a requirement.

Also OP, I totally agree with your premise. Writing is the foundational skill required for success in ANY career.

College of Wooster. All students are required to work 1-on-1 with a professor for all of senior year to complete a significant piece of original research or scholarship. The first couple years are focused on preparing students to take that on.

Allegheny College also has the requirement to write a dissertation for graduation.

[Anonymous]

Carleton College, which requires a senior comprehensive project (and has outstanding writing resources).

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by great writer? A novelist, or just someone who is able to write a grammatically correct email, Power Point presentation, or business plan? IMO, the best way to become a good writer is to read a lot.

OP here

Yes, fair question.....

DC, a HS junior, wants to pursue a career in law or business. So in that sense.

Such a silly question for someone interested in law or business. If you want to pursue a career in law, get top grades in a good school and score well on the LSAT while majoring in whatever you want. If writing is a big deal to you, major in English or philosophy. If you want a career in business, go to a school with a good B-school.

No, not a silly question. Being a good writer as an attorney is a must. Being a great writer as an attorney puts you head and shoulders above. Anything that puts you in that second category is a HUGE plus.

And being a great writer in business, coupled with very good quantitative skills, makes you stratospheric.

Being a good LEGAL writer is a must. There are plenty of generically good writers who can't write like lawyers to save their lives. You need to understand the difference.

The question is can being a good writer helps you to be a good legal writer?

Yes, obviously. Legal writing is not that hard, IMO. You're quoting a lot of case law and rules to prove your argument.

You're obviously not a lawyer. If you were, you'd know that persuasive legal writing involves much more than that. And, at times, much less than that.

NP, and I know a lot of lawyers and they are, without exception, excellent writers.

To OPs question, I think you’ll want a SLAC. Beloit, for example, requires that students take a number of writing-focused classes and those can be in any major. There are different types of writing, but colleges like that focus on teaching skills regardless of major.

Also, just encourage your kid to read. Readers make good writers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is easy. Any UK or European college.

I went to the London School of Economics for a masters after a US undergrad. Most taught masters in the UK have a 10,000 dissertation requirement that I was terrified of bc I couldn't write to save my life, I felt that college had not prepared me properly for this. I went to a good US school, too. The Europeans, on the other hand, wrote SO WELL, even the non-native English speakers. By writing well I mean they were able to create an argument and write coherently in support of it. An Italian in my program said he wrote a thesis in high school and had written a thesis for every stage of education afterwards. They could not understand why we were so afraid of writing.

So to answer your question, I'd say any US school that requires you to write a graduation thesis. Not sure if there are any, but I feel all US undergrads should have this as a requirement.

Also OP, I totally agree with your premise. Writing is the foundational skill required for success in ANY career.

I agree with this. My DD is doing her undergrad in Scotland right now, and most of the assignments she does involve writing papers rather than taking exams. She's currently spending her entire semester writing a dissertation.

As a counterpoint, I attended an Irish university with a non-humanities major and it was 90% test focused. The tests had long form answers, but I would sit for the exam and the only feedback I’d get would be a mark on a list of student ids posted outside the admin office. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Catholic colleges. Lots and lots of writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by great writer? A novelist, or just someone who is able to write a grammatically correct email, Power Point presentation, or business plan? IMO, the best way to become a good writer is to read a lot.

Read a lot AND write a lot. To be a good writer you have to write. Ideally daily.

The problem I see is that K-12 teachers have taken this to mean that they have no responsibility to mark up papers. The teachers don’t bother to point out problems with commas or periods on my son’s papers, ever. He has very high stats, he reads and writes all the time, but he’s a few punctuation worksheets and carefully marked-up papers away from being a much better writer.

The problem is, we live in such a strange time that it’s hard even to find punctuation worksheets aimed good high school students who
are native speakers of English. Most of the few punctuation worksheets I’ve found are aimed at small children.

The goal would be to find a place with writing instructors who mark up papers, or who have worksheets left over from the 1980s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by great writer? A novelist, or just someone who is able to write a grammatically correct email, Power Point presentation, or business plan? IMO, the best way to become a good writer is to read a lot.

Read a lot AND write a lot. To be a good writer you have to write. Ideally daily.

The problem I see is that K-12 teachers have taken this to mean that they have no responsibility to mark up papers. The teachers don’t bother to point out problems with commas or periods on my son’s papers, ever. He has very high stats, he reads and writes all the time, but he’s a few punctuation worksheets and carefully marked-up papers away from being a much better writer.

The problem is, we live in such a strange time that it’s hard even to find punctuation worksheets aimed good high school students who
are native speakers of English. Most of the few punctuation worksheets I’ve found are aimed at small children.

The goal would be to find a place with writing instructors who mark up papers, or who have worksheets left over from the 1980s.

High school students don't need worksheets. They can read one of the many excellent style manuals, like Strunk and White s Elements of Style or the Chicago Manual of Style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Carleton College, which requires a senior comprehensive project (and has outstanding writing resources).

+1, top 5 LAC too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
A data point:

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/writing-programs

Only 1 out of 20 is public and it is the University of Iowa.