Calling All Berkeley Applicants

I hear they started sending out SS invitations for R2.

Now time for the excessive refresh click.

yeah, it seems like Haas is much tougher to get into than it should be given its reputation and rank.

Haas has an overall acceptance rate of 18%. That is lower than all schools but Harvard, Stanford and possibly Columbia (which is tough to gage because of their ED round). Even Wharton is 20% and others go up from there.

I believe the issue is that Haas is really small, and serves a really popular area. For example, New York has about 8 million people (I think) and is served by Columbia (about 750 full-time and 16 month program), NYU (375) and has substantial location advantages in attracting students from Wharton (800), Harvard (900), Cornell (280), Tuck (250) and even Yale, Darden and Fuqua.

Chicago has fewer people but is served by Chicago (550) and Kellogg (525) and has advantages with Michigan (440).

The SF Bay Area has about 6 million people and is served by Stanford (375) and Haas (250). Together, that's not much more than many of the mid-sized schools. There is also the huge population of Los Angeles nearby with just the additional seats of UCLA (325) to cover the entire region. In fact, in addition to all the hopefuls from California, hopefuls for a thousand miles in any direction do not have another elite business school to choose from. I think it's simply that there are just so damn many people in the region and hoping to move to the region competing for so few seats at the three elite/ultra-elite schools.

Found this on the Haas website:


eric
What percent of applicants whom were invited for interview got admitted to Haas last year?

Jett_Berkeley
If I'm remembering correctly, the percentage was close to 70-75%.


https://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/chat_admin_11_30_06.htm

any R2 interview invites?

I ended up submitting R3 since my recommenders already submitted the recos back in 2006. Got the regular "your application ready for review" email so far.

Herez my profile -

Indian male, 10 yrs experience in IT - Networking, some startup experience, GMAT - 750, AWA - 6.0,
MS from a decent univ.,

Applying for the R2 - EWMBA program. What do you think my chances are? Anybody else with a similar profile?

You can hear the crickets chirping in here.

No R2 invites from GmatClub members?

I was just thinking about that as well. I definitely got the feeling that it would be a very tough year at Haas. I'm in for R3, hoping to get lucky.

I have to say that I regret not applying to Haas. I liked it a lot when I visited, I like Berkeley (it's Ithaca with more traffic, more panhandlers, and better weather), I was completely charmed by Pete and Jett, or whatever their names are, and I loved their building...so pretty.

But in the end, I decided to let them go 'cause they seem a little quant-snobby (I have the world's most unbalanced GMAT score) and because the timing wasn't great due to my 2nd attempt at the GMAT.

Judging from the experiences of fellow GMATClubbers, it seems it was a wise choice.

Did anyone go to the big crazy info session they had over the summer? In July, I think. Those boys are slick, but I get the impression they are almost trying to counteract the hippy-dippy Berkeley image by being super-hardcore business-folk.

I didn't go to the big info session, but I think the business school is genuinely separate from the rest of the hippy campus. The pan handlers are funny too. I remember some years ago a news show uncovered that a whole bunch of Berkeley students were panhandling - and why wouldn't they, they were making 300+ dollars a day. That's more than undergrads can hope for from almost any job.

I have been to Ithaca twice, and the Berkeley campus and immediate surroundings are somewhat similar; but there several major differences. San Francisco is about 30 minutes away by car or train and it is truly a spectacular place for young people to live, work and hang out. Silicon Valley is an hour away, with some of the most sought after jobs in a distinct second job market. Napa Valley is just over an hour away; I was hooked from the first time I visited and I know that most other people are as well.

If I cannot get into Haas (or Stanford ), this area tops my list for destinations after business school.

Follow the sun!
Unless dinged and forced to spend winters in the snow.

I also plan on living in San Francisco after B school.

The best place to live. Pelihu... did you grow up in the Bay Area?

Oh, I know that the Greater Ithaca Metropolitan Area (I'm kidding; we don't even say that) is nothing like the Bay Area. It's more the feeling of berkeley itself - crazy activists in birkenstocks drivin' their volvos. And SF may have Sonoma and Nappa, but we've got our own little wine region in the Finger Lakes. And if you drink enough of our wine, you won't even notice that most of it is fairly nasty (though the riesling is actually quite good, you should avoid most of the reds).

Actually, I grew up outside of Los Angeles. I attended UCLA so I've been around LA quite a bit. I'm well acquainted with who you mean by Big Game James. I've also lived in Ann Arbor and New York. For me SF really has it all; although the ability to drive to Vegas from LA is pretty nice. From SF you can drive to Tahoe in about 3 hours though.

I have heard about, but haven't had the pleasure of trying, any Finger Lakes wines. I hear that they make nice ice wine, but I actually don't like the stuff in general.

pelihu, should we ever find ourselves in the same place, I promise a bottle on me. I like ice wines myself, but they're pricey and not for regular consumption. Too sweet. This riesling is my current fave from the region:

https://www.ravineswinecellars.com/wines.htm

It's a deal. That looks like an interesting winery. I will see if I can find a bottle around here somewhere. I must say that most of the local wine shops seem to be pretty hostile towards US regions other than Napa and Sonoma, including other regions in California.