Calling all Berkeley-Haas Fall 2011 Applicants

I'm in for Round 2 or 3. My understanding is that they are both equal in difficulty (i.e. not as hard as Round 4). Does anyone know if this is an accurate appraisal?

I was originally most interested in Haas, because of the MBA/MPH program, but now I'm leaning more towards just doing the MBA and the Health Management certificate (If I get in and attend). The dual degree program sounds really cool, but I'm concerned that my previous MS in science in combination with this program would make me look like some sort of deranged degree collector, like a crazy cat lady with master's degrees.

Still, I love the bay area, and any degree from Berkeley would really be a great deal, in my opinion.

The Bay area technology industry (which Haas is definitely closely tied to) is definitely known for entrepreneurship, but Haas itself really has a very weak entrepreneurship curriculum and very few entrepreneurship faculty members. It's still a good school if you want to be a tech entrepreneur in the valley, but keep in mind that Harvard, Stanford, and MIT all have waaaaaaayyy more resources dedicated to entrepreneurship.

Have you all noticed the "Please select institutions to which you are applying for MBA study; control-click to select multiple institutions (used for statistical purposes only)." in Personal Data II of the application?

It is optional, so i guess i don't need to respond.

I've never heard of it either - best advise would be that you call up the school or talk to current students. But if it is a brand new program, there might not be any alumni or current students....so call up the admissions or write an email to inquire more info.

Wow, this thread is dead this year... no one is applying to Haas? R1 deadline coming up in a few weeks!

Haha ... I'll bite! I guess everyone's busy with the essays, which are fairly clear cut, I think.

Anyway, I did want to ask how big a deal BILD (Berkeley Innovative Leader Development) really is. I did see that some courses were revamped. Was there anything new that was included? Looks like the 2010 incoming class will get the first taste: https://www2.haas.berkeley.edu/News/News ... 2bild.aspx

I think all of the threads are pretty dead this year, but I'm not sure why. Chat attendance is down too.

I wonder if this is indicative of a larger trend - a further decrease in total number of applicants for the incoming class of 2011. Haas experienced a 11% decline in applications last year.
https://blog.accepted.com/acceptedcom_bl ... tions.html

They opened the application really late. Is everyone busy filling it up?

On a serious note, I've been busy travelling and visiting campus last week.

Here are some thoughts from my Haas campus visit:
Highlights:
- very vibrant campus and lot of hustle/bustle with students (MBA as well as non-MBA) moving around
- Met with class of '11 students for lunch, very friendly, receptive people, shared their experiences, encouraged prospective students to ask any questions
- Infosession was conducted by two second yr students. I really like it when schools do this. I want to get the real scoop from students who live the life there. If it is run by adcom, someof them tend to churn out the same material from their website.
- Class experience was good but not different from other schools. Students were very interactive and proactive in discussions with the Prof. There was a wee bit of cold calling.

Lowlights, if I have to nitpick:
- With a race among top schools to construct new building, Haas campus looks old. Not a big deal because it still looks good
- Tend to come across as slightly less organized department
Overall, I had a fun experience and would love to be there

Thanks for the report. I had a similar experience during my visit last spring -- though the student lunch (which is usually my favorite part) was not as good. I found the 2 people I had lunch with to be a little arrogent (one was sponsored by McKinsey and the other was a former IBanker - not sure if that had anything to do with it)... but the info session hosted by current students was really good so that made up for it.

I also recently attended an evening info session in my local city. Reiterated what a good program it is. I actually learned that the experiential learning (haas@work, etc.) will now be a requirement, which I never knew before.

Roll call update -- I'm targeting Haas R2 now.


Not sure why the threads are dead this year. I know I haven't been as active as I thought I would be. The 'man' has me working my a$$ off! (and any free time is devoted to essays).

Glad to see the thread light up again!

I love this line. While it's stereotyping, I guess there *could* be something to the stereotype. joking, of course.

BILD is a revamp of the core curriculum and putting more focus on a cohesive leadership development program. I think one of the big things is the requirement to do an immersive experiential learning program like IBD, S-cubed, Haas@Work, etc... I wouldn't say it'll be completely different than years before, but I think it'll be better organized with the theme to build leaders.

Good reports on the visits. Wonder which students you got for the infosession. The HSA team right now is awesome

In all seriousness, this is true. My contact at Haas has been an incredible help.

Kry,
The students at my infosession were Matt and Kate. They were just fantastic in anticipating questions and addressing them. When Matt mentioned that he interned at your company, I asked him after the session about you. He told me what a wonderful and resourceful person that you are. Just like the way you are on gmatclub

Btw, am applying in r1. Add me to rollcall please

Haha, I have to apologize. This was of course meant to be taken lightheartedly and I certainly don't mean to stereotype. To be fair, both of the gentlemen were very nice and willing to answer any questions -- they just happen to be a little less "accessible" and didn't toot the Haas horn as loud as I expected (so to speak).

I agree though, the HSA team is very good!

Nice, both of them are great people. I do miss seeing them around campus all the time these days.

As for the roll call, I no longer maintain them so hopefully one of you in this year's application "class" will take on the duty to update the roll call like previous years?

No need to apologize. It's good feedback to give and I'll definitely mention it next time (and it won't be linked to you in anyway, don't worry).