Berkeley Haas School of Business

I guess your perspective on the food at iHouse depends from what your expectations are I don't live there, but visited it a couple of times and was impressed by the food. It's quite nourishing, no junk burgers (European cuisine, although pretty basic), and most importantly cheap and conveniently located. Would I live there, I don't think I'd ever go eat somewhere else.

That said, I confirm that it's extremely tough to get it. I applied in May and was already waitlisted for iHouse.

Also, it's rather expensive. I think you pay about $1500/mo for the tiny dorm room (be it with free wireless and cheap food), while you can find a good place for under $1000 some 5-10 minutes walk from campus.

So I think your decision on where to live should be highly influenced by whether you want to "socialize" (undergrad style), or you prefer to have your evenings for yourself.

cheers!!! There are actually 2 students from Haas who have exchanged to HKUST this semester, so I'm pestering them for information . Good to know there are available options around

How important are the Supplementary questions in the essay?

5. Please identify the course(s) you have taken or intend to take to demonstrate quantitative proficiency. Provide the course name, date, grade if any, and institution at which the course was or will be taken. If you wish, you may discuss other ways in which you have demonstrated strong quantitative abilities.

I haven't taken any course, and dont intend to take one. Whats the ideal way to write this? Also, any word limit on such questions?

Not that important if you have decent (B or higher) grades in Calculus. There is no word limit, but one or two sentences plus the list of math/quant grades is enough. They're really only looking for proficiency in quant skills. If your GMAT Quant score is 90+%, you're also fine. Just state so in this question.

Hi guys,
How many years out will a candidate be considered a reapplicant? I applied to Haas for 2008 but was turned down and really want to improve on a few things, mainly my time spent participating in extra-curric's and retaking the GMAT to edge into the top 90th %tile. I just moved to California and suspect I'll reapply for the 2010 class.

Also, do the admissions staff give any personal feedback at all for reapplicants?

1) I think you're OK. You'll have to tell a story about it, but it will be beneficial for you. And of course they will have your previous application on file. You can check with the adcoms themselves though.

2) I don't think so. If they EVER do it, they will have to do it for EVERYONE from that point on. So the answer is always "no, sorry".

Hi guys,

First I want to thank you for your time helping us. I greatly appreciate your help.

I come from a technology industry and would like to switch my career to strategy/management consulting after graduated from MBA. Can you share your thought to get one prepare for this career, in terms of the courses should take, student clubs at Haas, etc?

Thanks a lot for your time.

Hi there,

You are very welcome! As for tech to MC/Strat, that happens a lot here at Haas. To prepare for the career, you generally join the General Management club and the Consulting Club. You practice case interview questions with your classmates over the fall semester and winter break (more for consulting than for Strategy), you fully immerse yourself into the 8-10 target companies you want to work Strategy for (for MC you have to network a lot at the company presentations and do informational interviews), and there are a few strategy classes you can take (check out the Haas Website for the list of electives).

There are also 2nd year career coaches, the Career Center, and your classmates who will all help you to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Hope that helps!

+1 on everything kryzak said.

Make sure to START EARLY. Consulting interview practice is a rather long and cumbersome process - don't postpone it until winter break. Start ramping up now.

yeah, I might even sit in on some consulting classmates' practices just to learn how to do case interviews.

braindancer, saw you at the Consulting BB a couple weeks ago, but had to leave early so I didn't get to say hi.

Hello Kryzack !

I'm in for R1 at Haas !

I'm French / 30yo and I currently work as Marketing Manager in the Wine & Spirit business in Paris, France.

I consider Haas as my first choice due to the location ( close to Napa Valley and the very good reputation of the Marketing cursus !

Could you give me some tips about the marketing program at haas and above all is there any course / program / company related to the wine & spirit business at Haas ?

Thanks so much !

Oh yes. A *lot* of stuff is related to wine, all across the board. Speakers get invited, special class sessions and case discussions on wine making, etc etc. I have a feeling that there even is an elective class dedicated to this, but I'm not sure, and can't seen to find it right away.

what braindancer said, wine is ALL OVER the campus. People are doing their core class organizational behavior projects on the wine industry, Mondavi came to class last year, there's a Wine Club that's very active (more for tasting, but you can definitely use it to network), and with the proximity to Napa/Sonoma, it has to be pretty easy to just drive up there and look for opportunities.

I'm personally not going into marketing, but I'll check around to see if any of my classmates are. Though I"m pretty sure you'll do fine at Haas if you want to get into the wine industry.

Thanks you very much guys !
It sounds really exciting for me !
If you have a classmate which is involved professionnaly in this domain of activity or a specific elective course it will be also very usefull for me.
On my side I'm trying to reach the Wine Club to chat a little bite with them ...
I'm really eager to have a toast with you on the campus !

well, definitely contact the wine club, they should be responsive. If not, let us know. braindancer may be able to contact some of them personally (since they're in the same class) or I can find someone in my class who's involved with them too.

Let us know if you come and visit too!

Hi kryzak,

Just a quick question for you... for reference letters to Haas, is there a guideline of number of pages per letter?

Btw, I will be doing a campus visit on Nov 20th so I'm very much looking forward to that!

Cheers!

Hi jjhko,

No, there is no limit, but as long as your recommender answers all the questions completely, you are fine.

Let me know a few days before you come, I can try to meet up for a little bit.

K