Calling Berkeley-Haas Fall 2008 Applicants!

Days at Haas?

Yep. Days at Haas aka "admitted students weekend"

No DAH for me. I withdrew my application from Haas after visiting Sloan's AdMIT weekend (even though it was snowing that whole weekend!). I guess I'm just an east coast person

Hmm... maybe that means I'll finally get a call for an interview.... this waiting is so disheartening

awww... sorry to hear you won't be joining us wisepig!

I guess I'm the opposite, I'm a total west coast person, haha

Doesn't mean I'm not up for a West Coast internship! In fact, I'm hoping I will eventually end up in the Bay Area, what with my interest in tech and all. I just have to get my fill of snow first

Are there any R3 applicants that have received an interview invite yet? I just went to "application under review" fairly recently, but I was still curious.

No, interviews for R3 will come out after Super Saturday tomorrow.

My top pick is Haas, and I will be throwing my hat in the ring this Wednesday (3/12/08). I am a young professional, so this is really going to be an uphill battle. Wish me luck, and any advice you may have is appreciated.

jfals
https://www.jaredmalan.com

jfals--I'm with you! I don't know what the cutoff is for "young professional," but I am a 25 year old Director of Analysis in the student records department at a pretty large proprietary university (17,000 students). I'm kind of a weird (or non-trad as you call it) candidate, as I have earned my bachelor's degree while gaining the work experience. So, I have about 5 years of experience under my belt in a professional position, but my bachelor's degree is being conferred after this semester, so none of it is "post bachelors" experience, per se. Adcomms have reacted to this differently--where some have adamantly said "we could really care less about anything you did before you got your degree" and others have said "valid full time professional experience you earned WHILE earning your degree full time actually makes you a stronger candidate". So, at the end of the day I'm just confused! I'm applying to Northwestern (JD/MBA), Haas, Harvard, Stanford, Wharton and U Chicago, with preferences in that order (GMAT 710 and GPA 3.95 from a top public university). So we'll see where I end up. Best of luck to you!

Good luck matty0212. Your ambition is praiseworthy.

Hi all--

Fresh poster. Great resource here. Figured this is as good of a time as any to jump right in and speak to my experience today...

I attended Haas' Super Saturday and came away, for the most part, impressed. Very bright student body, inspired and passionate. I did enjoy the format as you have an opportunity to meet many of your potential classmates. A few numbers released by adcom today. ~1100 R2 applicants...200 of which were invited to SS. In a side conversation with adcom, chances are pretty good they could take ~50% of those 200. Applications up 18% YOY (through R2).

All in all, a good day. Although, I must admit that I was disappointed regarding a few aspects. I thought the facilities were quite dilapidated. Maybe not on an absolute basis, but certainly relative to other schools that I am considering (Stanford, Anderson, Kellogg and Harvard). In addition, the technology utilized in classrooms is, for the most part, outdated. I truly couldn't believe my eyes when I witnessed the unquestioned use of an old school overhead projector. Not the digital overheads that are in use at many institutions (I believe these should be replaced in an effort to implement digital whiteboards, doc cams, LCDs, etc), but a 10+ year old dinosaur w/ a large cooling fan. IMHO, it doesn't seem like Haas is terribly interested in reinvesting in its infrastructure to stay on par with other elite schools. I may be nitpicking/ranting, but I personally place quite a lot of emphasis on a school's willingness to upgrade its facilities and technology to stay ahead of the curve.

Other than these few apparent drawbacks, I really did enjoy my day on campus. Again, many passionate and diverse students along with some highly charismatic faculty members.

UC Berkeley is a public school with more limited funding.

Glad you had a great time at SS! I really do like the format of SS.

WOW, *200* people at SS? We only had 100 and it was already crazy.

As for facilities, Haas is not the greatest I admit (just like mba2010 said, it's a public school, though with the increasing tuition, they may be able to upgrade more things), but this is the first I've heard anyone consider Stanford and Kellogg's facilities to be *better* than Haas. Stanford's building and classrooms are a joke (this is coming from someone who really wanted to get into Stanford), and Kellogg was pretty bad (I don't like the indoor "block" design, very crammed). Anderson is probably the best out of the ones I applied to, very very nice facilities. Harvard is amazing, period.

Anyway, hopefully they'll upgrade the stuff in the next few years while I'm there, but that's definitely the least of my worries when it comes to picking schools (otherwise I'd pick Anderson, hands down).

K

Of the few schools I visited (Kellogg, Duke, and Haas), Duke had, by far, the very best facilities. However, they are blessed with plenty of space to expand. The common area is huuuuge with plenty of empty space to spread out.

There doesn't seem much room for Haas to expand since Berkeley is a more urban campus. Plus its shared with the undergrads.

Kellogg is also incredibly crowded given the student population. I hate crowded places but that's where I'm going to end up.

In my ideal world: Kellogg's student body, located in downtown Chicago, Duke's facilities, and Haas' MBA/MPH program

Modify that

My ideal world, Haas student body, located in SF, with Chicago GSB's building, and Stanford' or Haas' entrepreneurship and tech program.

But yeah, I was trying to walk around in the Jacobs Center during class changes, and it was a madhouse out there...

Too bad Haas has to use the facilities for both undergrad and grad (as much as I like interacting with undergrads). They were planning a Boalt-Haas buliding where the Boalt parking lot is, but that's put on hold... too bad.

The cool thing is Haas is right next to the Cal Stadium.

200 people invited to interview...100 at SS. The remainder were int'l or domestics who couldn't make it in...