Calling Berkeley-Haas Fall 2008 Applicants!

Some news about class of 2009

https://haas.berkeley.edu/MBA/enews/sept07/story1.html

14% admission rate... wow, that's low...

"...a Navy SEAL officer who served in Iraq, a former member of the Hungarian National Water Polo Team, Peace Corps volunteers who served in Benin and Namibia, and the founder of a charter school.

Additionally, one member of the class received Google’s Founders’ Award—the top employee honor; another co-founded an online bookstore dedicated to preserving Persian culture and literature. A woman in the class founded and led a group of 2500 service women to lobby for equal opportunities in the military, and another was a founding volunteer with the Prison Entrepreneurship Program, which provides post-release job placement, housing assistance, and micro-loan financing to prison inmates."

Uhhhh how am I supposed to compete with that?!

yeah, that was impressive, but don't worry about it. I have a few friends who are at Haas and they're more like us than the ones people like to highlight.

I mean, if you count it, that's like 8 people. out of 470 they usually accept and 240 in the class. So I don't think you need to worry at all.

It is interesting that the international student count shot up to 39% this year, when it was in the 20's last year. Wonder if that's a typo...

No, I was on campus today and they handed out the new class profile. The number is consistent with what I received.

Had a bulgogi sandwich at Espresso Experience for the first time in at least 5 years. Sooooo good! It was $9.40 though--yikes!

are you from the area or just visiting? I think I remember you asking about this once. How did you like the campus, the lunch, the people? Let us know your thoughts!

This was my first official bschool visit, so I don't have anything to compare it to. I live in SF but am a Cal alum. I took the day off to sit in on a class (unfortunately, it overlapped with lunch). I only passed through Haas to get to the Greek or to the football stadium during my undergrad years, so aside from knowing how to get to the building, I did get a bit lost on my way to the admissions office. Luckily, the area is pretty small.

The class was totally relevant to my career goals, so I was pretty excited (and hungry). The students were all engaged yet friendly. None of the cutthroat crap. I also met a student club leader and spoke with his experiences, my career goals, etc...and it looks like Haas is a good fit for me (although I almost always leave these things thinking xx school is the best fit for me!).

Students all seemed really down to earth. A few even walked up to me and introduced themselves (you have to wear a Haas pin that identifies you as a prospective). The Information Session was surprisingly informative. It probably helps that they focused on selling the school rather than talking about admissions strategies. I was surprised that 25% of the students live in SF. They really emphasized the stellar career services center and close relationships with local companies.

I'm currently writing my "Why Haas" essay now while I'm still inspired.

that sounds similar to my experience! Yeah, Haas is the only school that takes the time to actually "show, don't tell" why they're different from other schools. It may not be the best reasons, but at least they make an effort.

I was going to sit in a class next Monday, but a last minute travel trip forced me to cancel. I did sign up for a myriad of other classes related to strategy and entrepreneurship later in the month too.

They said that usually the Berkeley-SF ratio is 80-20 the first year, and 20-80 the second year (living that is), but this year it's very strange that only 25% are living in SF.

I don't know how relevant this is to all you guys 'cause you must be almost done with your essays. But anyway, here goes:
https://blog.clearadmit.com/2007/09/berkeleyhaas-2007-2008-essay-topic-analysis/

quite useful kripalkavi. Haas isn't due in 5 weeks, so I still have time to tweak things. What I'm wondering about is how to split the research you've done on Haas between Short Answer #4 and the Goals Essay "Why Haas" part.

Just call me Kripal.


I didn't do this research! Clearadmit.com did it. Anyway, here is my opinion:
Short answer no.4 clearly asks you what you have done to find out about Haas right? So I guess talking about attending the campus visits, info sessions, talking to alumni/students comes in here. In the Goals essay, you can talk more about specific courses, clubs and other activities that you want to be doing at Haas. Just a thought....

kryzak - if you go to Haas 2 more times, they will just give u a honorary seat. I think at this point of time the janitor also knows that you are a prospective applicant. Probably at Oakland they are playing street dice and betting 4 to 1 odds in favor of you getting into Haas.

Perseverance pays, but you, my friend set a whole new example.

Haas sounds like a fun school to be. I had it initially on my wish list (I also had Wharton and Harvard on my wish list, hehe some wish list indeed. I prefer to keep them as wishes). Now its no more.

I am almost at the end of the rope with these application essays.

Ha ha ha! Priceless! Shoot, I really want to go to school with you man With your pimpin' 'talent' and your sense of humour, B-school'll be one big party!

Not to mention his poor track record picking up women, you can have all the fun to yourself when you go clubbing with him

good info kripal, and LOL at Avi/NC

The thing is, at Accepted.com and Stacy Blackman's essay tips, they recommend that you not just talk about your visits and contacts with Haas in Short Answer 4, but also talk about why that made you want to go there. Then the essay sounds almost identical to the "Why Berkeley?" in the goals essay.

My thought was to do:

Short Answer 4: Talk about all the visits, talking to students, infosessions, social/regional clubs etc... I've done and connect that to why I want to go.

Goals Essay: Talk about the classes, teaching style, collaborative culture and business clubs that will help me achieve my goals.

Does that work?

For anyone that has visited/lives in the area do you have any hotel recommendations? I was going to try not to rent a car since it seems like parking is challenging, but am open. Ideally I'd like to find a hotel that is not a fortune, but not ghetto either and that is close to campus. Maybe that is asking too much, but it can't hurt to ask, right?

Berkeley has very few "livable" hotels. I often stay at the Holiday Inn Express (HIE) on University near San Pablo, but it's NOT a walkable distance (and you don't want to walk in that area after dark either). It's also very expensive, roughly $160/night. Durant Hotel is very close to Haas, but it's also expensive and kinda old/worn down. There's a "Campus Motel" and a "Best Western" near HIE, but they're kinda crappy.

There is a bus that goes up University you can take, but it comes about once an hour or so. Once you get to University and Shattuck, during the day you can take the perimeter shuttle (either direction is fine) to get to Haas, and the opposite end of campus.

Hope that helps!

I'd try priceline... I've gotten great rooms for less than $35 a night around the Bay Area... but I'm not too certain what the coverage is specifically around Berkeley. If you are renting a car and are really strapped for cash, I'd suggest Oakland... I've lived in both places (near Berkeley and then right in ghetto Oakland) a few years back and it's really not so bad.