Haas (Berkeley) Hub

Interviewed with a second year, was conversational and the interviewer was very friendly and willing to share own experiences. Started with a brief about the procedure and how the interview will go on and then intro about self. Then the questions were as follows - - Intro - Why MBA? Why Haas? - in same question - Time you took a risk in professional setting - Time you convinced someone to do something out of their job description - Anything else you wanted to discuss about - Any Questions Went on for about 35 minutes. Good experience :)

Fairly standard interview experience with a 2nd year student via Zoom. It was very conversational and he made me feel comfortable. Questions asked: 1. About yourself, why MBA, why Haas 2. Contribution to DEI at Haas 3. Time you took a risk 4. Time you convinced someone to do something 5. Any other questions/anything you'd like to say. Went on for one hour.

I interviewed with a student and it was pretty conversational. Lasted for about 45mins. 1. Tell me about yourself? 2. What do you hope to get out of your business school experience? Why is Haas the right school? What is your goal? 3. At Haas, how will you engage and cultivate DEI? 4. Tell me about the biggest risk that you took in your professional life, the outcome and the thought process that led you to this risk? 5. Tell me about a time when you led a cross-functionally project where team members had trouble getting aligned, how do you gain consensus from the group and the outcome? 6. Anything else you would like to share? 7. Questions for the interviewer. Good luck everyone

Interview was with a recent alum, and lasted about 45 minutes - 30 with her questions, 15 with mine. Was pleasant but not too conversational. Questions were pretty standard, and some she even read verbatim off of a prompt. Questions 1, 2, and 5 were standard, while questions 3 and 4 come from a question bank and are asked at the discretion of the interviewer. 1. Tell me about why you want an MBA and why an MBA from Haas in particular - had to cover my background, my goals, why MBA, and why Haas in this single answer 2. How will you support DEI in the Berkeley Haas community? 3. Tell me about a time you were in a heated situation at work in which you were ultimately proven wrong? 4. Tell me about a time when you convinced colleagues to do something which was not in their job description? 5. is their anything else you want me to tell the admissions committee? - here I spoke about how I would contribute to the Berkeley Haas community Good luck!

I submitted my R1 application on the deadline and got the email invitation on Nov 14 at midnight. I actually had no choice between pre recording and alumni interview because the interview slot was already full (there were dates by Dec 7). The pre recording was due 48 hours and I've just finished it. It was consist of 5 questions with 45sec to prepare and 3min to answer. The practice questions on Kira had nothing to do with the real questions, so you may just skip them. #125 were common and #34 were random behavioral; the structure was the same as LY. 1. A diversity/Equity/Inclusion experience which shows how you would contribute to Haas community 2. What do you want to get from MBA experience and why Haas for that? 3. An experience of persuading a team to adopt your opinion. How did you do and what was the result? 4. A heated experience of disruption or struggle within a team. How did you feel and what did you learn? 5. Anything else that you want to share? The questions are what usually expected , but 48 hours was not enought for me haha Anyway, good luck for everyone!

Interviewed with an alumn. Interview was very candid and open, felt like a conversation. Tell me about yourself Why MBA? Why Haas? How do you hope to contribute from a DEI perspective? Tell me about a time that you experienced DEI Tell me about a time that you influenced a team to go outside of their comfort zone Tell me about a time that you fostered collaboration in a team Is there anything else you wished I had asked you? What makes you feel connected to what you’re doing now? And what motivates you to pursue a career in the public sector in the long term? Do you have any questions for me?

Hi!! I just did mine for R2 Class of 2023 - 5 questions. 45 sec prep + 3 mins answer 1) What do you wanna get out of your MBA & Why Haas 2) A DEI example that will enhance your contribution to Haas 3) A time when you lead a cross-functional team, what you did, how that made you feel 4) A time when you get a team to align 5) Anything else to add Everyone gets #1,#2 and #3 are random. Please note you will have 3 mins to answer so don't sweat too much - I read previous posts and spent so much time trying to fit all my answers to 1.5 mins.

I finished my video interview today and wanted to share my experience in case anyone is yet to complete the video interview. There were 5 questions - The first question was 3 min and then all 4 ques were timed at 1.5 min. The prep time for each question was 45 sec. I was taken by surprise because I prepared close to 3 min answers for each questions, but most of them turned out to be 1.5 min.

there were five questions, of which one question had a 1 minute prep time and 3 minutes response time, and the rest of the four questions followed a '45 sec prep - 90 sec response time' format. The questions were as below: - Tell us about your experiences with diversity. (This was the question with a 3 minute response time) - Why MBA and why Haas? - Tell me about a time when you worked in a team where people had strong opinions and how did you overcome that. - Tell me about a time when you forged trust and collaboration with the people you were working with. How did it make you feel and what did you learn? - Is there anything else you'd like to tell us that we haven't covered today. Hope this helps, and best of luck to everyone!

I recently gave the video interview. The whole process completes in around 10mins. Firstly the software does your system testing. Once everything completes, you can answer some sample questions. After that, you will be asked 2 questions. For each question, you get around 45 sec of prep time and then 1.5-2min of recording your answer. The prep time is not recorded. Once the interview starts, it completes very quickly. So make sure you do enough preparation before the interview. There will be one question about Why MBA/Haas and the second question about your style of leadership.

I got an interview invite on 5th March. Since all the slots were filled, I had to give the pre-recorded interview. Please be prepared for it. You have to finish the pre-recorded interview within 48 hours of getting the email. Please practice as much as you can on KIRA practice questions or record yourself through your camera app on your laptop. I personally found that seeing your own video instead of another person listening to you is distracting and sometimes you can wander off. So practice a lot. The actual questions were pretty standard stuff like any other in-person interview. Format - There are 5 questions - Each has 45 seconds to prepare and 3 minutes to answer 1st question is fixed - Diversity experience 2nd question is fixed - Why MBA? Why HaaS? 5th question is fixed -Anything else you would like to tell us? 3 and 4th questions are standard behavioral questions around teamwork, humility, leading a difficult team, risk taken, helping bring up the morale. In my case, i was little thrown off by the 3rd question which asked me to provide an example of where I convinced my colleagues to do something which was not in their job description and how did I go about it. The 4th question was standard tell me a time when you took a great risk in your professional life.

Here are the questions that someone who did the pre-recorded interview in Round 1 get: First Question: Why Haas/MBA? Second Question: Example of diversity and inclusion Third Question: Example of a situation of humility that touched you Fourth Question: Example of situation with people who had strong opinions Fifth Question: Anything more you would like to share Hope this helps!

I had a Skype interview with an alum based in India (where I am based too). Haas has a unique mandate for interviewees choosing the virtual interview format to show a photo ID to their interviewers. I forgot about it, so I had to spend the first couple of minutes scrambling to find my passport when my interviewer asked for it! lol After that, he gave me a quick intro about himself and mentioned that the interview would last around 30-45 minutes. Questions: - Walk me through your resume - After this, he picked a few specific bullet points from my resume and asked me to elaborate on those achievements/experiences (Tip: either have your resume on your screen or know it like the back of your hand) - Tell me about a time when you had to lead without formal authority - Tell me about a time when you led a diverse team/demonstrated inclusivity of those with different opinions - Why an MBA? - Why do you want to do a second MBA? (and also asked me to elaborate on my postgrad in marketing and how that was different from an MBA) - Why now? - Why Haas? - What are your short-term and long-term goals? - What has changed since the last time you applied (since I was a reapplicant)? - Questions for me Overall, we ended up talking for almost 90 minutes, and I was extremely grateful that he was really nice and accommodating about it on a Monday afternoon. I couldn't believe it when I heard back the good news from the AdCom a month later. I guess the second time was the charm! Good luck to all those preparing for Haas, it is a special place, and I hope my debrief helps you get a step closer to getting there.

Sasyaharry says: Some food for thought. If you speak at your normal pace, in 1 minute you can fit about 100 words. That is 6 lines of Arial in 12 point font. Extrapolating that, for you to speak for 2 minutes, consider writing something about 12-15 lines. From my experience it will sound like forever but you don't want to end up speaking too little or too much. Once you see 15 seconds remaining on the clock, wrap it up with your conclusion no matter what you are saying or how important you think it is. They have also mentioned that they expect you to not recite from anything written but you can always memorize answers to some basic questions such as Why MBA, Why HAAS, Why now etc. I just finished the video interview and it was much easier and comfortable than I thought it would be. I have experience being in front of camera but one where you can see yourself is a little distracting in my opinion, so practice this part if you are not comfortable looking at yourself while talking. sasyaharry has pretty good points on how to prepare for the answers, but I would suggest that dont try to memorize word by word, just some talking points. This will make it look more natural than scripted, which is what I think they are looking for. Also read the question in your mind a few times during the prep time you get to ensure you are answering it directly and not some memorized version of yours which may be slightly tangential. Good luck!

My interviewer was an alumna working for FB in Singapore, Class of 2005. We had trouble with the audio and, eventually, I suggested to use WhatsApp for audio. Hence, we started 10 mins late. We had a chat about me first, why MBA, why Haas, a few follow up questions, and then she read the questions the Adcom prepared for her. There was nothing that caught me in surprise, I'd say regular MBA and regular Haas questions, however, I think I spoke too much, sometimes my answers weren't as concise as I'd wish them to be. But the passion for Haas came through I think. Below are the questions that were asked: 1. Tell me about yourself 2. Why MBA? 3. Why Haas? 4. Tell me about your weaknesses? How did you improve or plan to improve? 5. How you have promoted diversity at work or elsewhere? 6. Can you tell me about the challenging story at work? How did you deal with that and what you learned? 7. Which defining principle do you most embody? 8. When did you start learning English? 9. Advice on how to teach English to a colleague (She brought up a story about her Japanese colleague who's been struggling with English) 10. Questions for the interviewer. I think questions 8-9 were off the record, I think she was just curious, at least I felt that way. There were a few follow-up questions to some of the behavioral questions. I was surprised when she said, "The school sent me some questions, I'm just going to read them", and she literally did. Those were long narratives followed by some simple questions like the questions 4 and 7. In the end, she just said: "Let me know if you get accepted". I felt I could have done better but I got in eventually.

Interviewed in person on Haas campus Overall the interview was pretty casual and conversational. Started off with the interviewer saying, "this is going to be pretty low key". I wasn't sure if this was meant to throw me off guard, so I just smiled and kept a friendly face. The interviewer wanted to make sure the time was going to be set for 30 mins, she started a timer and mentioned that she might be checking the timer occasionally. The initial few questions were all the standard ones: About yourself/walk me through your resume/introduce yourself? Why do you want an MBA and what will you gain? Why Berkeley Haas? I had been well prepared for these and she felt pretty satisfied with my responses, saying something like- that's a good answer, sounds like you've thought about it a lot, that answer covers all different angles- good work etc. Some other questions covered: Any managerial duties and reporting structure? Now, I work in Biotech research and its a pretty long career path. Usually people don't get managerial duties without PhD and 3-5 years experience especially in an R&D intensive organization like mine. I explained all this and also covered some other leadership responsibilities I have had on projects I worked on, such as training new employees, communication with other departments, managing interns etc. She seemed to get it but didn't exactly say what she thought of it. What will your boss say about you- Strengths and weakness? Said the strengths and she said, "I believe all of that". Weaknesses were explained too- seemed satisfied with it. What will you bring to Haas? I had been well prepared for this one. Covered some of my personal and professional attributes, some student clubs I wanted to be part of and Professional organizations within Berkeley Entrepreneurship. She said, that answer covers many different things- good work. Two sort of curveball questions were: What are some challenges you faced in promoting a diverse work environment? My company is really diverse, we have a world map with flags on countries where people are from and it literally covers the world. I explained this and said I have not really had much issues with having diversity and explained what I would do if it were an issue. She was satisfied at the answer and said she wanted to ask because she has talked to some Indian Tech people who only have other Indian males in their teams. I explained that I work in BIO-Tech and that it is a little different for me. Looking back in your life, is there anything you would do differently? Now I wasn't well prepared for this one. I thought about it for a second and talked about some occasions in my old company where I had disagreements that could have been handled much better and that I am more mature and understanding now. She followed up and asked whether it affected my professional relationships at work and I explained that it wasn't the case, but that there were just few instances of disagreements that could have been dealt with in a more subtle manner. I was given a chance to ask questions, there was only about 4-5 mins left. I asked a practical question about scholarships and cohort preference and something about possible cross functional classes or projects with other departments at Berkeley. Overall, I was pretty satisfied with the interview and her response to my answers. There were a couple of questions where I could have done better but summary being it felt pretty good. But now I have been placed on the Wait list, so I am not sure if there were any weak answers that I didn't recognize. Will see what happens Fingers X.

Just had the alumni interview. It lasted about 70 minutes. Some structured questions were asked first. It seemed that in every interview, they will ask these questions. 1. What're your challenges/difficulties at work? 2. What's your weakness? How did you cope with that weakness? 3. How do you resonate with "beyond yourself"? 4. What's your career goal. How do you think can Haas help with your goal? Then some unstructured conversation regarding the industry you want to work, and it was pretty conversational and freestyle. Good luck!

Executive MBA Interview. I interviewed at Haas for EMBA with the program director. No surprises there, usual questions. 1. Why MBA? 2. why at Haas? 3. How you embody the 4 pillar values of Haas? 4. What will you bring to the class? 5. What are your interests? Hope this helps!

Haas EWMBA Program Interview Let's talk about the interview. I felt this way before, but the interview solidified this. Don't worry about "preparing" per se for the interview. At the end of the day, the only thing you should prepare for with any interview is that you need to be very decisive about what you want out of your life and your career. This goes beyond an MBA but if you are able to be decisive, it makes your interview preparation process way more chill and your answers will be more comfortable/natural. Everyone's questions will be slightly different, but for Haas, they cover the following: Walk me through your resume - Much like a job interview; be able to confidently answer why you chose your field, why you chose certain jobs, what empirical benefit you gave to the company, and any leadership positions you held or projects you led. For me personally, because I held a lot of leadership roles at a lot of jobs, currently run a startup, and started my career at 10 (no joke), this was like 95% of my interview haha. That typically doesn't happen. It's usually like 1/4 of the interview. One question you should be ready to answer is why you left certain roles, especially if you were there less than a year. I get these questions in job interviews, but my interviewer at Haas was more astute about my career path and dates than what I had experienced during my Anderson interview. Why did you choose your career path - This seems similar to the above, but I separated this question out because this is where Haas gives you room to give more intrinsic reasons for why you are going down your career path. Why an MBA - Duh. Every grad school question haha. Why Haas - Double duh. However, one thing I will say about this question is that this is where you can probably stand to subtly incorporate the principles. I'm not as intelligent as the rest of the people on this thread so I honestly forgot to plan to address the principles. However, by the grace of God, when I answered why an MBA and why Haas, I addressed two of the principles without knowing it. So at least they know my answers weren't contrived. I also was able to point out specific aspects of Haas that I wanted to take advantage of as an aspiring entrepreneur. I had researched what they have at Haas and the organizations tangentially connected to them. Oh and I also slipped in what cultural benefit I could bring to Haas, that would help the class. So I took the info from my class visits and information sessions and positioned the second half of this answer as what aspects of Haas' culture my inclusion could bolster. What would you change about your current job - I really liked this one. Mainly because I complain about my day job almost daily and come up with a ton of hypothetical solutions haha. What was cool about this question too was because I run a stealth mode startup on the side and we have been getting traction/investor interest, I was able to juxtapose what I thought my day job should do and how I remedy and validate my beliefs with my startup. What do you think you bring to a work environment - Don't be fooled, just see this as "what are you going to bring to Haas' culture, and how will the refinement through Haas allow you to bring an elevated version of your 'secret sauce' to a company post MBA graduation". Just make sure you answer it as what you bring to a work environment and try to slide in how that will be reflected in Haas' culture if you get in. What do you like to do for fun - Don't be weird or stiff about this. Just be honest. I messed up a little bit here because I was so passionate that I kept talking for 5 minutes longer than I wanted to on that question. Another negative, because I like helping people become better versions of themselves (applying for schools, applying for jobs, running companies, etc.) I kept repeating how I know that because of the unique experiences I've had, my duty is to give back. I'm just really passionate about it, but I may have rambled too long on that particular tidbit as well (much like this post). Any questions for me - I just asked how they support entrepreneurs and I asked about some of the tangential organizations that they are affiliated with and how their logistics work. Dumb thing I did (on a long list of dumb things I do daily), I asked what she felt like Haas needed reinforcement in culturally and what type of students could do that. I think she interpreted that as me asking "what do you want me to be so I can get in". I was honestly just curious; don't be like me haha. Miscellaneous tidbits: Their poker face game is strong. Don't think you can read their faces and get an indication or doom or reassurance. Just be yourself. The room they bring you in is small. I didn't care. I went to an HBCU that didn't always have the best resources so I was just happy to have some water and a chair.

Just had my interview over Skype with an alumni. The interview was, despite some technical difficulties, very conversational. He made me the typical "Why an MBA, Why Haas, Why now" questions. Some other questions I can recall were: -Which defining principle do you feel more connected to -What will you bring to the class? -Hypothetical scenario of a non-functioning team and how would I act to resolve the conflict -Toughest situation I have encountered at work or in my personal life After 40ish minutes of questions, I had a couple of minutes to ask him some questions. It's worth mentioning that it was a blind interview, so the interviewer had only read my resume. It was a pleasant talk, kind of the one you would have when reaching an alumni to research some more on the university.