Calling all Berkeley-Haas Fall 2010 Applicants

I did my essay in a linear progression, and then focused on the pivotal information/moment that convinced me Berkeley was the perfect place for me.

So remain as a story. Okay... I was thinking that maybe I should break out of story mode for this one.

I approached it more as a semi-story. State the first interaction I had with Haas people, then go into some specifics and what I loved about them, and then conclude with why all those examples show it's a perfect place for me.

My goals essay focused more on why Berkeley is the best place for me in terms of my career goals. The two essays should be complimentary in the "Why Berkeley" part.

Hope that helps!

ROLL CALL PAGE UPDATED!

One more week until the R2 deadline! Good luck to those still working on essays (like me) and to those waiting on interviews.

Does anyone know exactly how worried I should be about not having received an invite yet, as a R1 applicant?

Read kryzak's posts.

I'm in for R2. Gotta get to work on the essays...

Thank you unhedged. Kudos!

Out of the Haas hopefuls, what are the industries you're looking to get into after your MBA? VC? Silicon Valley? Consulting? Banking? Trading? PE?

Ok, just sent in my Haas application. Now just sit back and wait and see...

That was definitely the toughest application I have worked on by far.

Consulting. But wouldn't mind transitioning into Silicon Valley.

Coming from a Tech background, i am definitely looking at Strategy Consulting ( which is what i wrote in the essays), but at the same time, i feel i would be interested in Product Marketing too ( won't know until i sit in some marketing classes and maybe go to some marketing case competitions).

Who are the main consulting recruiters? Bain? Oliver Wyman? I imagine the latter is good at aerospace consulting (apart from the usual financial services risk management).

I think Mckinsey has a business technology office although I have no idea if they recruit associates into this office at Haas.

On a side note, I did some research on the major tech recruiters like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, eBay and found out that MBAs usually recruit into Product Manager position, which is more aligned to the marketing track, which I can hardly relate to as I have no marketing background.

Sorry for a dumb question.. but what does Silicon Valley has to offer for MBAs? Mgt positions in tech start-ups? Or VC/PE type of positions?

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I don't think it's a dumb question, but I might reformulate it: what do MBAs have to offer Silicon Valley? I remember Steve Jobs having an extremely dim view of marketing folk, and I think it'd be hard to be taken seriously in Silicon Valley without being conversant in technological products. I have no idea what the VC scene is like.

Main consulting recruiters are Bain, McKinsey, BCG, Accenture, and Deloitte. There are some other boutique consulting firms that recruit too, but you'll have to check out the employment report for details.

McKinsey hired a few of my classmates for the tech office in Palo Alto for full time.

Product Manager could be on a marketing track, but depending on the company, you may not do any marketing at all and it's more like a project management job. Even within the same company (e.g. Microsoft), a PM could be more external facing (marketing) or internal facing (project management). So it's hard to generalize what Product Managers do in tech companies. I have no marketing background and I'll probably go into product management that's more related to project management, and learn the product marketing side from there. Haas also offers some good classes to build your marketing skills up from zero.

"What does Silicon Valley have to offer for MBAs?" is quite a broad question. There are tons of job opportunities in the area ranging from doing marketing, project management, and business development for startups, all the way to all the corporate roles at bigger firms. As for Apple, they hire a LOT of MBAs, even if Steve Jobs originally disliked them. MBAs are pretty much in charge of working on and launching many of Apple's products, and quite a few of my classmates have interned there last summer and will most likely go back.

Hope that helps!