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25 Oct 2009, 13:36
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hey braindancer,
Glad to see i am not the only one on the forum on sundays!
I am applying to Berkeley for R2, and this is probably going to be my only application. I am a civil engineer, and had never really thought about an MBA before a few months ago (they re not too popular in France and even less among engineers...). I started looking up programs when one of my colleagues (indian IT like many people on the forum it seems) told me he was considering it, and Berkeley seemed to be the program standing out for me (not for him, he s dreaming about HBS).
So here are my questions:
How easy is it to attend classes from the engineering department? I do want a b-school degree but would be happy to satisfy the geek in me taking some classes in.....clean energy (how original, I know...) How does it work? Do b-school students have access to pretty technical classes? Is there a limited number of projects for clean tech or does it depend on the number of people interested?
Is Berkeley a good school to switch from engineering to consulting? I have worked in Africa as a civil Engineer and in Mexico looking for oil and would like to switch to consulting, preferably in the energy sector (yes clean energies, i am tired of polluting more than my share). Have you met people following the same path there? Do most international applicants go back to their home country or is there a fair amount of them who stay?
And last but not least it seems to me that Berkeley is encouraging team work and collaboration. I know most MBAs advertise this but i just got a different feeling from what i have read. Kind of very hard standards but less attitude. I don't really want to be surrounded by what we call "finance sharks" in french. Did i get the right feeling? Maybe all schools are like this? Honestly b-schools have a pretty bad reputation in France so maybe my feeling is biased,looking forward to some feedback on this.
I haven't had the chance to visit yet but planning on going there next month. Meanwhile, just looking for as much info as i can to polish my essays. Any of you on the campus at that time?
Maybe it would have been more appropriate to send a PM but maybe some people later will be interested in your answers too...
Emilie
Glad to see i am not the only one on the forum on sundays!
I am applying to Berkeley for R2, and this is probably going to be my only application. I am a civil engineer, and had never really thought about an MBA before a few months ago (they re not too popular in France and even less among engineers...). I started looking up programs when one of my colleagues (indian IT like many people on the forum it seems) told me he was considering it, and Berkeley seemed to be the program standing out for me (not for him, he s dreaming about HBS).
So here are my questions:
How easy is it to attend classes from the engineering department? I do want a b-school degree but would be happy to satisfy the geek in me taking some classes in.....clean energy (how original, I know...) How does it work? Do b-school students have access to pretty technical classes? Is there a limited number of projects for clean tech or does it depend on the number of people interested?
Is Berkeley a good school to switch from engineering to consulting? I have worked in Africa as a civil Engineer and in Mexico looking for oil and would like to switch to consulting, preferably in the energy sector (yes clean energies, i am tired of polluting more than my share). Have you met people following the same path there? Do most international applicants go back to their home country or is there a fair amount of them who stay?
And last but not least it seems to me that Berkeley is encouraging team work and collaboration. I know most MBAs advertise this but i just got a different feeling from what i have read. Kind of very hard standards but less attitude. I don't really want to be surrounded by what we call "finance sharks" in french. Did i get the right feeling? Maybe all schools are like this? Honestly b-schools have a pretty bad reputation in France so maybe my feeling is biased,looking forward to some feedback on this.
I haven't had the chance to visit yet but planning on going there next month. Meanwhile, just looking for as much info as i can to polish my essays. Any of you on the campus at that time?
Maybe it would have been more appropriate to send a PM but maybe some people later will be interested in your answers too...
Emilie
31 Oct 2009, 16:22
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hey,
sorry I dropped the ball on this one - was traveling. Apparently all the Berkeley gang is staying on the lazy side
Let me try to answer your questions.
Secondly, there is an option to attend classes from other schools in Berkeley. You can either actually take that class (there is a limit, I think you can take 1-2 non-Haas classes per semester), or you can just "audit" them, which means you show up and listen, but don't get grades and credits. I don't know a lot of details on this, as I was too lazy to actually do it, but I think this might be a good option.
As to the projects, there is a huge load of clean tech stuff going on at all times. It's one of the hottest topics, and projects pop up all the time. I am more than sure that you (and anyone) can easily get yourself involved in a cool project. I personally didn't care about that too much (was focused on consulting), but I did see a lot of people take that path.
Basically, here's my take on this: any top-10 school is a great way to get into consulting. However, Haas is easier to get into with a tech background Also you will have a slight advantage during consulting interviews, cause your background is what the firms expect, so you won't fall behind folks with businessy backgrounds.
As to internationals - well, again, I did stay In my opinion it depends on your future employer, not on school. Haas can't do much to help you stick around, but once you get a job at a large firm, they can sponsor your H-1B (work) visa.
Make sure you check the latest news regarding work visas before you make your decision. In tough economic times (like now) US tend to shut the doors and create roadblocks for firms to sponsor work visas. For example, any firm that got government aid is prohibited from hiring internationals. So research this and find out what are your chances.
There is absolutely ZERO dog-eat-dog attitude here, everyone is super-friendly. No one is psyched about the grades, and people do help each other a lot. Finance sharks feel lonely and depressed, as they are a minority and can't really bully anyone
Shoot me a PM once you have the dates, and we'll see what we can do.
sorry I dropped the ball on this one - was traveling. Apparently all the Berkeley gang is staying on the lazy side
Let me try to answer your questions.Quote:
Firstly, there are plenty of "tech-oriented" classes at Haas itself. Tech is one of the school's specialties, so once you get past first semester (when all classes are mandatory, "core curriculum") you can start customizing your own class schedule.
Secondly, there is an option to attend classes from other schools in Berkeley. You can either actually take that class (there is a limit, I think you can take 1-2 non-Haas classes per semester), or you can just "audit" them, which means you show up and listen, but don't get grades and credits. I don't know a lot of details on this, as I was too lazy to actually do it
, but I think this might be a good option.As to the projects, there is a huge load of clean tech stuff going on at all times. It's one of the hottest topics, and projects pop up all the time. I am more than sure that you (and anyone) can easily get yourself involved in a cool project. I personally didn't care about that too much (was focused on consulting), but I did see a lot of people take that path.
Quote:
Well, switching from engineering to consulting is exactly what I did
Basically, here's my take on this: any top-10 school is a great way to get into consulting. However, Haas is easier to get into with a tech background Also you will have a slight advantage during consulting interviews, cause your background is what the firms expect, so you won't fall behind folks with businessy backgrounds.As to internationals - well, again, I did stay
In my opinion it depends on your future employer, not on school. Haas can't do much to help you stick around, but once you get a job at a large firm, they can sponsor your H-1B (work) visa.Make sure you check the latest news regarding work visas before you make your decision. In tough economic times (like now) US tend to shut the doors and create roadblocks for firms to sponsor work visas. For example, any firm that got government aid is prohibited from hiring internationals. So research this and find out what are your chances.
Quote:
My feeling is that Haas is by far the most "un-competitive" school out there
There is absolutely ZERO dog-eat-dog attitude here, everyone is super-friendly. No one is psyched about the grades, and people do help each other a lot. Finance sharks feel lonely and depressed, as they are a minority and can't really bully anyone Quote:
Hard to say - I'm doing consulting and am on the road all the time
Shoot me a PM once you have the dates, and we'll see what we can do. 
