Berkeley Haas School of Business

somehow my "message notification" stopped working for this thread, but hopefully it's back on now and I can help along with braindancer to answer questions.

Lies! You know you were just lazya$$ing.

Haha, it is second semester of the second year, I deserve to be lazya$$ing.

Good to see you here braindancer!

Fair enough! I don't even remember showing up at school during last semester

Hey Everyone,

With pleasure, I would like to introduce you all to Berkeley Haas' new VP of Admissions and Student Ambassador, LaurenAtHaas! She will be helping applicants with questions on this thread and the Haas Ambassador thread, and I have no doubt that she will do an amazing job helping you all out.

Don't worry, I'll still be around, but it's very nice to have an "official" student voice from the Berkeley admissions team here on GMATClub and on this thread.

Lauren will make a self-intro here soon, so stay tuned!

Cheers,
Kryzak

Hello Everyone!

I am extremely excited to serve as your new Haas ambassador on the GMAT Club forum. I look forward to answering your questions, and supporting you in any way I can as you navigate the business school application process. Below is a little bit about myself.

I am a Bay Area native, born and raised in Los Gatos, CA. In 2000, I completed a double major in Economics and Political Science at Stanford University. While at Stanford, I was a four year varsity letter winner in softball, an NCAA Division I Scholar/Honor Roll Athlete, and a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and the Cap & Gown Women’s Honor Society. I continue to be involved with my alma mater, serving as a Director on the board of the Stanford Professional Women (SPW) organization.

After graduation, I worked for two years at a patent law firm in Palo Alto. After deciding that I was not destined for law school, I accepted a role at Google as a member of the Online Sales and Operations department. During my 7 years with the company, I worked in a variety of General Management positions in several different offices, including Dublin, Ireland, and Hyderabad, India, most recently managing a sales team and running the office's community outreach program in Boston.

I made the decision to attend Haas as a means to further develop my strategic and quantitative skill sets, as well as my professional network. At Haas, I am involved with the MBA Association, Women in Leadership Club, Marketing Club, and Leadership Club. I am a Berkeley Board Fellow, serving on the board of The Alameda County Foster Youth Alliance. I am also participating in the Social Sector Solutions program, working with the Women’s Sports Foundation on their GoGirlGo! initiative. In my leisure time, I am usually outdoors staying active. I also enjoy photography, traveling, and cooking.

Cheers,
Lauren

Hi Ambassadors,
First of all, welcome LaurenAtHaas and congrats!

Well, the more I search B-schools to consider for MBA the more I fall in love with Haas. It just fits my career ambitions and career background as well (at the end of the post link to my profile is pasted). Also, my long-term goal is to be an entrepreneur especially social entrepreneur like Tom from Tom's shoes (if you know of him), and Haas's Social Entrepreneurship program is strong. Haas's close proximity to Silicon Valley is a blessing for engineers like me who are in high-tech. By the way, I love Apple and Google as employer and would like to join any of these companies for management position to achieve my short-term goals. I do like consulting but for social and technology related sector. General Management and Haas's mix of Case studies and traditional teaching method is exactly what I was looking for as far as teaching style is concerned, So, all in all after considering what I want and researching other schools as well Haas seems the only best fit for me.

I am an international student with high-tech background. I did my undergrad from GIKI (Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences & Technology), the language of instruction was English only as many visiting teachers used to teach there (UK,Russia,Switzerland,France and etc.). When we were studying there it was the #1 Engineering institute in Pakistan (now may be 2nd or 1st). I have a poor GPA as you'll see from my profile and my Batch average GPA was 2.4 or 2.5 on the scale of 4.0 (tough grading system).
Now here are my questions
1) Do I need to take TOEFL/IELTS (language of instruction was English only)?
2) As mentioned on Berkeley site US co-signer is required for loans, does school help in finding a co-signer for International student as I don't know anyone from US?
3) The people who get in Apple or Google, for what positions are they usually hired for and with concentration on what major (e.g General Management or Strategic Planning or Business Development)?
4) For international students getting VISA for USA is a hectic job. Does school help with VISA processing so that the process can be smooth for International student.
5) How much Career Service Center at Haas helps international students in finding the internship and job?
6) How is camaraderie at Haas?
7) Does school help in financing your MBA for example scholarships and FinAid? What I mean is the process smooth or painful?
8) Here we don't have community colleges to take extra courses to improve the candidacy and offset poor GPA. Do you think or can ask some AdCom rep. that is it OK/enough for me to take pre-MBA course on https://www.mbamath.com? (in addition to high score on GMAT)

Well there are many other questions but for now I think these are enough.
Link to my profile: need-your-kind-advice-91194.html
Please! have a look at my profile if you don't mind and do let me know of your opinions & what would you suggest me to improve my candidacy.
Thank you,
Atif

Questions:
1) Do I need to take TOEFL/IELTS (language of instruction was English only)?
2) As mentioned on Berkeley site US co-signer is required for loans, does school help in finding a co-signer for International student as I don't know anyone from US?
3) The people who get in Apple or Google, for what positions are they usually hired for and with concentration on what major (e.g General Management or Strategic Planning or Business Development)?
4) For international students getting VISA for USA is a hectic job. Does school help with VISA processing so that the process can be smooth for International student.
5) How much Career Service Center at Haas helps international students in finding the internship and job?
6) How is camaraderie at Haas?
7) Does school help in financing your MBA for example scholarships and FinAid? What I mean is the process smooth or painful?
8) Here we don't have community colleges to take extra courses to improve the candidacy and offset poor GPA. Do you think or can ask some AdCom rep. that is it OK/enough for me to take pre-MBA course on https://www.mbamath.com? (in addition to high score on GMAT)

Answers:
1. The UC Berkeley Graduate Division requires that all applicants who received their degrees from countries in which the official language is not English submit official evidence of English Language Proficiency. This requirement applies to applicants from Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa, the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and most European countries. This requirement also applies to US citizens who received their undergraduate degrees in these countries or regions. Only applicants who have completed a full year of US university-level coursework with a grade of B or better are exempt from this requirement.
2. No, I do not believe that Haas and/or the Admissions Committee is able to help students identify a co-signer for loans. I will confirm and then post another reply if the answer is Yes.
3. For students that receive an offer from Apple or Google, it can be for a variety of roles, in a variety of departments. Opportunities are different every year, but I can tell you that both firms made summer internship offers to Haas students during this recruiting season. If you would like to review employment reports from past years, you can do so at the Haas Career Services site: https://haas.berkeley.edu/groups/careerc ... ports.html
4. The Berkeley International Office (BIO) provides advising and assistance to the international community at UC Berkeley. International students consider BIO as their primary non-academic information source while a student at Berkeley. BIO can provide information and assistance with: Immigration matters, Personal and cultural issues, Information on living in Berkeley, Taxes, Work authorization permits and Financial aid. You can learn more about their services here: https://www.haas.berkeley.edu/MBA/siss.html
5. The Career Services Office (CSO) does a fantastic job helping students find internships for the summer, as well as full time, post graduation roles. You can read more about their role on campus by visiting their site: https://haas.berkeley.edu/groups/careercenter/mba.html. In general, from speaking with my international classmates, while they have access to the same career resources as domestic students, there may not be as many international jobs that are filled through the on campus recruiting process. This simply means that the student has to do a bit more leg work in identifying opportunities, but the CSO is very much still available to help you network, and make the necessary connections so that you can land your ideal job!
6. I absolutely love the environment Haas! The following is part of post that I made on another forum where I address the attitude/vibe on campus. To begin with, I have found the students to be exceptionally collaborative, and team focused, and I have developed extremely strong relationships with many of the individuals in my class. This process of meeting new people, and building lifelong relationships has been extremely fulfilling. The focus on team and collaboration was most evident during summer internship recruiting season this fall. Many of us were applying for similar roles at the same companies, and I was shocked (and grateful), when fellow classmates were approaching me with feedback on how their interviews had gone, and what I could best do to prepare...and this was for the same role that they had interviewed for earlier in the day! I certainly appreciated their support, and am confident that in the future, my Haas classmates will continue to be tremendous resources and sources of support. In addition, I am also extremely proud of the principles that the Haas program stands for (https://www.haas.berkeley.edu/strategicplan). As a program, we truly embody each of these principles, and each day I am excited to see how our students, faculty, administration and alumni are making a difference locally and globally. I hope that this is helpful, and provides a bit of a glimpse into what I believe makes Haas such a special place!
7. The best place to research scholarship and financial aid information for Haas students is on this site: https://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/admissions ... dents.html (under Costs & Financial Aid). The process of applying for scholarships and financial aid is a very personal one, and is very specific to each student. I would recommend that you review the information on this site, and then email the Financial Aid office with any unanswered questions.
8. Many students complete continuing education courses in order to offset a lower than desired undergraduate GPA. While online programs are certainly helpful, they often do not provide participating students with a grade (which the Admissions Committee will want to review if the class is to be considered a supplement to your undergraduate GPA). I would recommend that you look into continuing education programs, or extension schools at leading universities, as they sometimes have classes that you can complete virtually (they video tape all lectures, and you take exams from a local testing center).

I hope that this information is helpful!

@LaurenAtHaas
Thank you! for taking time to answer my queries. It really is informative and useful. And would let you know of any further queries.

Hi Ambassadors...looking for some help here..

I am an Indian applicant in round 3 at Haas. I had certain questions about the admission process at Haas.

1. Is there no hope for me in round 3, being an international applicant? Many people have told me that since Indians tend to be picked up in rounds 1 & 2, no more diversity is required. and, as a result, very less or negligible Indians are picked up in round 3 or 4.

2. Is there any way I can offset that disadvantage?

3. I want to share with the admissions committee all that I have done since I applied. I have some significant things to show. Would it be advisable if i send an update?

My Profile:
Indian Female
GMAT 720
GPA 3.1
Undergrad-engineering
work-ex:4 years: 2 years in family biz, 2 years as an entrepreneur-I own a digital media agency.
heavy extra-curriculars
heavy community service-have taught slum kids for 2 years for an NGO, continue to work with the same NGO as Chief Evangelist.

Awaiting your response eagerly.
Thanks
Smriti Sharma

Smriti,

I don't think there is such a strict division between rounds in terms of who they pick up. It is true that most of the class gets built out of round 1 and 2, but they do get quite a few people from round 3 as well. So I wouldn't worry too much, given that you have a good profile.

As to sending them an update - absolutely, this is a great idea. If you have significant new stuff to report - do it. Send them an email, show keen interest and update them on your recent activities.

Thanks for such a prompt reply! I might just trouble you again.

Any insight into whether Haas gives out many scholarships...and how much they usually provide?

The big one is the Haas Merit and Haas Achievement scholarships, given when they tell you your acceptance. They're either 50% or 100% scholarships and are given to less than 10% of the class (the two awards combined). There are other 50% and 100% scholarships that you can apply for after you get accepted, probably for a total of another 5-10% of the class.

I received a question earlier about loan co-signors for international students, and I wanted to offer a quick follow-up. I spoke with the Admissions team, and have confirmed that presently, they cannot assist students in identifying co-signers. However, they do intend to have a program in place next year that will allow international students to obtain a loan without the need for a co-signer. Once all of the information is finalized, you can expect a more detailed announcement.

Thank you! for the information.
Was really curious as well as worried.

Hi everyone and thanks for your help.

I visited a class about 2 months ago and I found that it was not very interactive. In fact, it felt more like a lecture than a discussion. Is this true for most classes or did I come on an uncommon day?

...I'm thinking about visiting a second time just to make sure!