Drawing on interviews with faculty and administrators across the curriculum, this article argues for a new approach to WAC/WID that I call writing in the professions (WIP). A WIP curriculum emphasizes writing with/for audiences outside the university and in genres that are intended for use beyond the classroom, rather than in simulated genres written for the professor. In its emphasis on preparing students for their writing lives beyond the university, WIP works from four primary concepts that emerged categorically during interviews with faculty. First, students must learn to compose visually and orally, in addition to alphabetically. Second, students must learn to write in a team-based, collaborative environment that requires effective project management. Third, students must learn to develop clarity in their writing. And fourth, students must learn to write in ways that are accessible to non-expert audiences.