Grad Programs - writing, writing, writing

[bella2011]

As I work on my capstone, I am realizing how much I do not like essay writing. I will write to pass the course but its not enjoyable. I am more of a numbers person. Give me calculations

So, are there grad programs whose focus is less of paper writing?

I hear that is why people choose MBA programs more than MA programs. I do see MBA students writing lots of papers though, depending on focus.

Which grad programs have write less?

[cookderosa]

As I work on my capstone, I am realizing how much I do not like essay writing. I will write to pass the course but its not enjoyable. I am more of a numbers person. Give me calculations

So, are there grad programs whose focus is less of paper writing?

I hear that is why people choose MBA programs more than MA programs. I do see MBA students writing lots of papers though, depending on focus.

Which grad programs have write less?

I'd estimate your STEM programs to have less writing, but that might depend too. My last grad class was a biology course, and we did a lot of friggin writing!? ;p HOWEVER, it was much, much, much less than my psych grad class which was all writing all the time. My completely unscientific guess is that science/technology/engineering/math write less than humanities/social science/education/management/business.

[sanantone]

It also depends on the school. In my current graduate program (sub-field of international relations) I usually write one 6-page paper and one 12-page paper for each course. I did have to write a 20 to 30-page paper once, though. I actually don't find it as bad as the busy work essays I had at Colorado Technical University. I heard that Columbia Southern University's MBA program only requires 2 to 4-page papers and a bunch of open-book, multiple-choice tests; but, it's nationally accredited.

[bella2011]

tks both!

i am leaning to a Math/accounting graduate program.

i will research the STEM programs further!

[bricabrac]

I am in a MS applied science and tech program. My initial courses have been in clinical research and all are research and writing heavy. I've had ten papers and ten group discussion assignments due in each course. The discussion assignments are generally 1-2 pgs and the research papers 5-6pgs minimum. You research and position actually dictates the length of the papers. What is most important is the final outcome; that you have researched and documented your paper thoroughly).

Those who I know that have graduated from MBA programs were also heavy writing. They were enrolled in good schools so the curriculum was not only rigorous but highly competitive in both individual and team coursework.

[cookderosa]

I think when you evaluate the load of writing, you have to look at the TYPE of writing. I mean seriously, I can write forum posts all day long <cough> or even essays and problem sets, but what I find to be a total time-brain sucker is anything in academic format (Chicago, APA, etc) with the full citation support and research. Yuck. More than 1 biggie per class and I'm whining big time.

[frankiebleyes]

Amen to that Jennifer.

[lumpylump]

I'll throw in a data point. I have completed eleven courses in my MS program. Four courses required passing a certification exam and seven courses required essays or presentations. The seven courses with writing components had three or four tasks (typically a case study) to be completed and each task required one or two papers. Writing totals for the seven: about 470 pages @ 110 thousand words (statistics courtesy Word and PowerPoint). To be fair, the page count is inflated because the papers were APA formatted (double spacing) and include cover and reference pages. The PowerPoint presentations required extensive speaker notes for every slide, but cover and sectional title slides inflate the page count some.

The "wordiest" course involved case studies in security policy which came in at eight papers totaling 93 pages/18 thousand words. The least "wordy" was a leadership course with four papers totaling 41 pages/9 thousand words.

I'm preparing for my last exam and then have a capstone project to do which should add a couple hundred more pages to the count. Hooray. Sigh...