Haas Berkeley 2012 - Calling All Applicants

I was wondering the very same thing!!

I was planning on applying for the 1st December deadline.
But the Haas application is such a nightmare!!!
Never expected that! It's almost as long as two schools apps put together!

Can any R1 applicants share their insight into what was the toughest essay? I know it can wildly vary, but would be interesting to see if there is any trend...

I'm gonna cast my vote behind 'Student of your Own Failure'.

If you've ever seen the Steve Jobs Stanford speech, or Conan O'Brien Dartmouth speech - you'll see how amazing that essay could potentially be. For me it was the toughest, and definitely my weakest one.

I must admit that when I started off, I hated the Haas application. But I can tell you that it grows on you as and when you start writing the essays and developing the short stories. I really think that the short essays are a great opportunity to display various aspects of your personality and background. You can almost develop your personal story using the short essays and then tie it all together with the last (1000 word) essay. A word of advice would be that the essays requires many more round of edits and reviews that other schools owing to the 250 word limit. The message in each essay needs to be crystal clear and sharp. So, please keep adequate time for this process. I just wrote first drafts very quickly and kept on refining them to the last moment and was surprised with how good (and how different) the end product was.

To answer your question, I struggled the most with the essay # 1 - what gives you greatest joy and how does it make you distinctive? I ended up answering truthfully and while it didnt look or sound "cool" or flashy, it did tie in with my overall story.

Anyway, good luck to applicants in further rounds ad also to those who applied in R1!

I agree that the failure essay was toughest, but I don't think it's fair to compare yourself to Jobs or Conan. I didn't take the same risks as they did, so my failure wasn't anywhere near as "awesome"

The joy essay was actually fun. I framed it by thinking about what I would do if I won the lottery and were able to retire and spend more time on a hobby.. not sure if it was a good approach, but it was authentic. I didn't write "leadership" or "doing an amazing job" or any of those types of answers.

This is awesome guys!! Thanks for your inputs!

Well, I haven't yet gotten around to writing the first draft for the failure essay so can't say...But I'm struggling a bit with essay 1 at present - what gives you greatest joy and how does it make you distinctive?

Maybe I'm reading it wrong and all of you can share your thoughts on this one...But I think the question in itself sounds shallow and the two parts within it seem disconnected. To elaborate, why should it be necessary that something you are passionate about should also make you distinct? No one can genuinely say that I love XYZ and this makes me distinct because no one else is passionate about it...
I'm almost tempted to write that doing ABC gives me the most joy but I don't do it because it makes me distinct...
Then I think about the ad coms and the fact that Haas is a reach/above-par school for me and I change my mind..

BTW, krazo, I'm not sure how you tied in winning the lottery to 'what gives you the most joy'...Doesn't the activity that gives you joy have to be 'something you actually do' versus 'something you hope would happen'? Anyway, it would be mighty interesting to read your essay!!!

Didn't actually mention the lottery lol! but thinking about in those terms helped me frame what I would truly do if I had no constraints thereby giving me the most joy.. so if the adcom is looking for a career-oriented or leadership-oriented answer then I will not do well.. but if they are looking for something different then I think my answer can hold up.

Very interesting and very brave!!

Any thoughts on the point I raised regarding que. 1?

Essay 1 was my only non-professional essay.. all others were drawn from professional experiences so I wanted to inject a different aspect of my personality into my submission.

I would caution about about writing that doing X brings you the most joy but you don't do it... that is just odd to be honest..

Start off with your hobbies.. do you play soccer or football, etc? what do you do in your spare time and why?

how did you develop this hobby/activity? it can be recent or long-running..

I don't think that what you are passionate about necessarily makes you distinctive. What should make you distinctive is how to pursue your joy and how it affects you and others around you.

This one was really hard to put down in 250 words. In the end I chose to talk about what gives me joy and how I follow my passion and that is what brought about my distinctiveness. Does that make sense ?

Agreed.. I did the same thing. I also focused on how I developed this joy and I benefit from it..

Obviously I'm not the only one who enjoys the same things as I do, but not everyone enjoys it from the same reasons

Also, if it helps, it doesn't really have to be a hobby. What gives you joy doesn't have to be a "verb". It can be a "noun" too.

I thought long and hard about this essay but it was hard for me to just say that a hobby makes me distinctive. In the end I talked about my culture, how it gives me joy and how it makes me distinctive.

Ya I think this question gives applicants quite a bit of leeway and flexibility. I'm glad I'm not the only one who wrote about a non-professional aspect in this essay

Thanks guys! Your inputs are appreciated!

Anybody can shed light on how well Haas places into investment banking? The most recent employment report says only 3.9% of the 2010 class got IB jobs - does this mean Haas is a non-target school (although all bulge brackets appear to be hiring on campus), or is investment banking just out of fashion with the recent graduates? Many thanks.

Haas has always been always known as an Entrepreneur's school. Doesn't mean that there are no IB guys but from what I have heard Haas and Berkeley's culture is more akin to the silicon valley's entrepreneur spirit.

I think any essay writing about your professional aspect for the "joy" essay is bound to be cookie cutter.Lets face it, $$$ is the main "joy" out of work.There are only so many ways you can twist that concept and the adcoms must have heard all of them.

I definitely went with a hobby as my joy/passion essay. I really wanted to share my non-career side in that eassy.

Any interviews? In last year's thread interviews started going out start of November so I hope we'll start to see them roll out this week