Bachelor [Marketing: Professional Sales] From West Virginia University

Marketing students are encouraged to participate in an internship after their first semester in the College. Internships are an extension of the learning experience and provide insights to the actual operations of organizations.

The Marketing Club offers professional and social programs to all students interested in marketing. Presentations by outside speakers offer information and personal contacts that are very helpful in career development.

The College offers two bachelor?s degrees: a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Economics. All students earning BSBA degrees (accounting, finance, management, marketing and management information systems majors) take the 37 credit-hour core business curriculum. This curriculum is modeled on the interrelationships among the functional areas of business as they occur in the real world. Emphasis is on developing skills for effective teamwork, communication and leadership?the skills employers value highly.

Every company has a salesperson, even if it is the company owner. As a famous salesperson and national motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, once said, "Nothing happens until someone sells something." As a salesperson, you are in the enviable position to make something happen. The best part of a career in sales is that it is undefined. It is hard to describe your typical day as a salesperson because every day is different. One day you are on the Internet researching prospective clients and, along the way, learning a great deal about a company and, perhaps, a new industry. The next few days may be spent calling these prospective clients and then an entire week may be in face-to-face sales calls. On other days, you are writing up sales-call reports and preparing proposals for clients. Some sales positions allow you to work out of your home office, others require traveling, and still others will allow you to do both. The WVU professional sales track offers course work in personal selling, sales management and selling with digital media.