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Berkeley Haas is at the forefront of addressing inclusivity in business school and beyond, seeking to create and cultivate a community that reflects genuine diversity in every sense of the word.<\/h2>\nBerkeley Haas is at the forefront of addressing inclusivity in business school and beyond, seeking to create and cultivate a community that reflects genuine diversity in every sense of the word.<\/h2>\nAs such, Haas is looking for candidates who demonstrate self- and situational awareness, which is an invitation to be both introspective and authentic across your essays \u2013 and certainty to do your research beyond a cursory website review.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As former Associate Director of Admissions at Berkeley Haas, I think this suite of Berkeley Haas essay questions is excellent. Let\u2019s talk strategy \u2013 what Haas is looking for in each of its new questions and how best to tackle them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Register today to join our live strategy session<\/i><\/a> discussing essay advice for Berkeley Haas<\/b>, Duke Fuqua<\/b>, UCLA Anderson <\/b>& Yale SOM<\/b> on August 12 at noon ET. Previous sessions from our MBA Admissions Essay Masterclass series are available on <\/i><\/span>Fortuna\u2019s YouTube channel<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n First, don\u2019t overlook the valuable context that Haas offers up in the brief intro to its essay questions, which conveys the school\u2019s defining leadership principles<\/a> and interest in fit (mentioned twice). The school has long put a premium on challenging the status quo (first of the four principles) \u2013 and is signaling core elements that Haas students and alumni embody. You\u2019ll do well to keep these in mind in your storytelling.<\/p>\n Haas required essay #1:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>What makes you feel alive when you are doing it, and why? (300 words max)<\/i><\/p>\n I love the wording of this question \u2013 any opportunity to learn about what ignites the spark in a candidate is really exciting to read. (Remember that most Haas admissions readers will be plowing through some 2,000 application essays in a single cycle.) It\u2019s also evocative of the iconic Stanford GSB essay<\/a>, \u2018what matters most to you, and why?\u2019 \u2013 which similarly gets personal and requires a profound level of self-reflection and sincerity. This question also underscores that Haas is looking for people who will actively contribute to the community and beyond, not just in the classroom. Your intellectual acumen and accomplishments being a given, what are you passionate about and why does it ignite that aliveness in you? This essay prompt allows the admissions team to understand \u2018what makes you tick\u2019 up and beyond what they\u2019ll glean from your academic record and work history.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A successful essay will share a specific and personal experience that helps the reader get to know you better, giving insight into your character, values, or how you would uniquely contribute to the Berkeley-Haas community. Given that you only have 300 words, the maxim to \u2018show not tell\u2019 is critical here. You want to bring the reader on the experience with you so they can smell, taste, feel and connect to whatever it is you\u2019re describing \u2013\u00a0what it felt like to summit that mountaintop and peer into the volcano\u2019s smoky belly, or the felt experience in a devotional act of creation that erased any sense of time. And unless it\u2019s deeply sincere and will ring true, a community service moment or tutoring exchange isn\u2019t necessarily the place to shine the spotlight. Dig deep and dare to have a little fun here; your voice can convey your personality.<\/p>\n NEW Haas Essay #2:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>The definition of successful leadership has evolved over the last decade and will continue to change. What do you need to develop to become a successful leader?\u00a0 (300 words max)<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n The ambiguous nature of this question is a purposeful contrast to last year\u2019s framing, which established that Hass is \u2018redefining leadership\u2019 and went on to articulate its value proposition as a set up to inquire \u2018how a Haas MBA would enhance your leadership profile.\u2019 This year, instead of explicitly stating what Haas values and cares most about (although note that is still reflected in the intro to all essays), Haas invites you to articulate your values around leadership within the context of what you\u2019re hoping to develop (with \u00ad\u2013 unstated but implicit here \u2013 a Haas MBA). <\/span><\/p>\n The set up to this question, and its reference to the last 10 years, is subtle but important \u2013 in citing that \u2018the definition of successful leadership has evolved over the last decade and will continue to change,\u2019 Haas signals that traits such as flexibility, growth mindset, and inclusivity are at a premium. Those who are being successful right now are comfortable navigating in a sea of uncertainty and prepared to adapt to the changing times. <\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s a reflective piece, and again, you have only 300 words to convey your point. Y<\/span>ou\u2019ll want to speak with precision and authenticity about ways you\u2019re hoping to enhance your leadership profile.\u00a0Approach this with some humility in thinking about leadership. Has there ever been something you\u2019d have pushed more successfully over the finish line if you had X or Y under your belt? Or an instance where you sense your impact could have been much greater with the benefit of Z? Not necessarily something transactional, but something more experiential or that you\u2019d gain in a relational context? If you think of the MBA experience as a huge learning laboratory, what might you want to perfect over the last few years that will set you up for success? <\/span>In doing so, how can you convey a nuanced understanding of what it means to be a successful leader?<\/p>\n Optional Essays: <\/b>Optional Information #1: We invite you to help us better understand the context of your opportunities and achievements: [6 multiple choice questions]\u2026 Alternatively, you may use this opportunity to expand on other hardships or unusual life circumstances that may help us understand the context of your opportunities, achievements, and impact. (300 words max)<\/i><\/p>\n While this section is lightly rephrased from last year\u2019s (pay special attention to the introduction to these essays), the spirit behind the asking is the same: to hone in on the path that students walked to better understand who they\u2019re reading. In Optional essay 1, Haas seeks to uncover the less visible forces that shape candidates\u2019 lives, opportunities, decisions, and character. This includes the challenges certain applicants face to get to where they are \u2013 even when students themselves don\u2019t see them as distinctive or noteworthy. Socioeconomic barriers, for example, can contribute to things that might be missing from an application but, in context, convey bigger picture understanding. It\u2019s a recognition from Haas of the huge range of students applying to business school, and a desire to support the admissions committee\u2019s decision-making by supplying a full and rich understanding of who each applicant truly is and the circumstances that shaped their lives. You\u2019ll do well not to consider the first question optional, while avoiding the second unless you have something truly relevant to add that isn\u2019t elsewhere addressed.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re feeling equal parts inspired and intimidated, take to heart these unscripted remarks from Berkeley Haas\u2019s Pete Johnson, Assistant Dean for the Full-time MBA Program and Admissions. Speaking to Fortuna\u2019s Matt Symonds at the CentreCourt MBA Festival in New York, Johnson offered the following advice:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBe courageous. I think a lot of applicants say \u2018well, you know, I\u2019m an engineer but what I really want to do is work in digital music,\u2019 and they write it out and they show it to their partner or whoever who says, \u2018no don\u2019t write that, they\u2019ll think you\u2019re crazy!\u2019\u201d says Johnson. \u201cWhen somebody really tells us what they\u2019re enthusiastic about it literally leaps off the screen when we read those things.\u201d<\/p>\n Want more free advice, and the chance to get your questions answered?<\/strong> Register for the live\u00a0MBA Admissions Essay Masterclass<\/a><\/strong>, this Wed., Aug. 12, where my Fortuna Admissions colleagues and I discuss essay strategy for Berkeley Haas, Duke Fuqua, UCLA Anderson & Yale SOM. <\/span><\/p>\n For more tips and prompts for getting started, check out our two-part series on MBA essay writing:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Writing a Powerful MBA Essay: Part 1 \u2013 The Essentials<\/i><\/a>\u00a0<\/i><\/span>and\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Writing Powerful Essays \u2013 Part 2: The \u2018Introduce Yourself\u2019 Question<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n Fortuna Admissions expert coach Sharon Joyce<\/a> is former Berkeley Haas Associate Director of Admissions.\u00a0For a candid assessment of your chances of admission success at a top MBA program, sign up for\u00a0a\u00a0<\/em>free consultation<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0Berkeley Haas is at the forefront of addressing inclusivity in business school and beyond, seeking to create and cultivate a community that reflects genuine diversity in every sense of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1831,775,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-fortuna-admissions","category-admission-consultants","category-blog","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49457\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nContext matters: Decoding the Berkeley Haas Essay Questions<\/b><\/h3>\n
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