Calling all Haas Full Time Applicants (2016 Intake) Class of 2018!!

Following

The set of essays for admission to UC Berkeley Haas School of Business covers a variety of topics – from the creative to the personal to the professional. In approaching these questions and deciding between topics it will be important to remain focused on what you want to communicate to the admissions committee.

A clear understanding of your application strategy, particularly your career goals and strengths/weaknesses, is the key to putting together a cohesive application. While challenging, this is also an opportunity to demonstrate several different aspects of your personality to the admissions committee.

Stacy Blackman Consulting has successfully coached applicants to the Haas MBA program for over a decade, contact us to learn more about how we can help you set a winning application strategy.

Essay One: If you could choose one song that expresses who you are, what is it and why? (250 word maximum)

This is a creative and open-ended question. Take the opportunity to infuse personality into your answer and think about your favorite music and what song most represents you. Perhaps it’s a song that you grew up listening to with your family, and it reminds you where you came from. Maybe it’s a song that helps you feel optimistic about your future. Music often evokes emotion, and the essay should capture that feeling and describe why it is meaningful to you.

Essay Two: Please respond to one of the following prompts: (250 word maximum)

Describe an experience that has fundamentally changed the way you see the world and how it transformed you.

If you decide to answer this question think about the moments that have truly changed you. One way to approach this is to think through transitions. Perhaps the transition from high school to college was meaningful for you.

Traveling for the first time outside your home country may have been another transition. Transitioning from University to the work place could have exposed you to new people and a new lifestyle. If none of those transitions lead to a topic for this essay you can delve into the smaller incidents in your life. A friendship, family experience or trip could have opened your eyes to something new and changed your approach.

Once you have selected a topic for this essay you will need to explain how you were transformed. What was your attitude like before the experience and what are you like now? Was the transformation internal or did you change how you approached other people? It’s likely you learned something from this transformation and explaining your lessons learned is always a strong finish to an MBA essay.

Describe a significant accomplishment and why it makes you proud.

This essay can focus on either a personal or professional accomplishment. The most important part of any accomplishment essay is describing why this specific accomplishment has resonated with you. What did you do and how did you do it? Were you proud of the outcome or the process? Did you demonstrate leadership or integrity in a way that was important to yourself or others? Ask yourself what truly matters to you and the accomplishment that showcases your values.

Describe a difficult decision you have made and why it was challenging.

Difficult decisions are often a moment to reflect again upon your values. What were the stakes of your decision and why did you struggle to make a clear choice? Perhaps you were choosing between priorities in your life, family or work, where to study for university or what career path to pursue. No matter what the decision was it will be important to talk a bit about your process for making it. Why did you choose one option over another and what did you learn about yourself?

Essay Three: Tell us about your path to business school and your future plans. How will the Berkeley-Haas experience help you along this journey? (500 word maximum)

This is a short career goals essay and asks you to describe your path to business school along with your future goals. As you describe your path you don’t need to recite your resume here – rather highlight the key experiences that will be relevant in your future career. Think about the cover letter you would write to obtain your desired position at this company and tailor your approach accordingly.
Describe your future goals in a succinct manner, considering what aspects of your background to explain in the “path” section that will support your goals development.

Be specific about why the Haas School of Business is the right program to pursue your goals as well. As you consider past experiences and your future goals you will be able to see what you want to gain from the Haas experience to fill any gaps. If you have an advertising background and want to become a brand manager you’ll likely need classes in operations and finance to understand the analytical side of brand management.

Other goals will require specific skills gained from an MBA and your own unique background will inform how you take advantage of the Haas experience. Make sure you have determined exactly what courses make sense for your career goals and the programs and clubs that you will participate in to reach your personal and professional goals. Thorough school research will be invaluable in approaching this question.

Optional: Is there any other information you would like to share that is not presented elsewhere in the application? You may also use this essay to provide further explanation of employment gaps or your quantitative abilities. (500 word maximum)

Haas recommends using this space to address any information that was not adequately covered elsewhere, specifically suggesting that any employment gaps or lack of apparent quantitative skills be covered.

A short gap between school and a secured job is not necessary to explain, but something like several months between two jobs should be addressed. If your resume has significant employment gaps you should describe what you did between jobs in this space. Ideally you can point to additional education, training, volunteering or traveling that you engaged in while unemployed.

If you have a strong quantitative background like an engineering or hard sciences degree, or you work in a quantitative field like finance, it is likely unnecessary to further explain your quantitative skills. Otherwise, you may want to take one or two examples to demonstrate that you have an analytical mind and can take a quantitative approach to problem solving and evaluating data. As the question specifically asks you not to focus on the grades on your transcript, use this space to describe projects at work, additional post-graduate coursework, or your plans to strengthen your quant skills before you enroll at Haas.


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If you are looking for guidance on your Haas MBA application, Stacy Blackman Consulting can help with hourly and comprehensive consulting services. Contact us to learn more. Visit the website for Stacy Blackman Reviews, and check out the company’s e-publications for more in depth school-by-school guidance.

 

Eager to see the deadlines; Haas site said they'd be posted in late June. In for R1!

EDIT - and they are out! Glad they are able to do an earlier R1 decision release.

Round One
Online Application Submitted October 1, 2015
Tests Taken October 1, 2015
Decision Posted December 17, 2015

Round Two
Online Application Submitted January 7, 2016
Tests Taken January 7, 2016
Decision Posted March 24, 2016

Round Three
Online Application Submitted March 31, 2016
Tests Taken March 31, 2016
Decision Posted May 12, 2016

Anyone know what the letter of recommendation questions are?

I found this: https://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/admissions/LOR2015.pdf

Seems like this is it but seemed odd that the instructions say that the recommendation needs to be mailed in by the applicant. I thought most recs can be done online?

Anyone know when the app will open up?

Looks like the Haas Diversity Workshop registration opened today - anyone else going?

https://haas.berkeley.edu/haas/diversity ... shops.html

https://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/admissions/index.html

The Fall 2015 application season is closed. The Fall 2016 application will be available in August.

I will likely be attending! Excited!

The Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley has posted the MBA application deadlines for the 2015-2016 admissions season.
Round 1
Application due: October 1, 2015
Decision released: December 17, 2015
Round 2
Application due: January 7, 2016
Decision released: March 24, 2016
Round 3
Application due: March 31, 2016
Decision released: May 12, 2016

For more information, please visit the Berkeley MBA admissions website.
You may also be interested in:
Berkeley Haas MBA Essay Tips

UC Berkeley Haas to Study Crowdfunding


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If you are looking for guidance on your MBA application, Stacy Blackman Consulting can help with hourly and comprehensive consulting services. Contact us to learn more. Visit the website for Stacy Blackman Reviews, and check out the company’s e-publications for more in depth school-by-school guidance.

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UC Berkeley Haas[/caption]

The supplemental information that Haas requests is almost unchanged. The essays are different from last years. For #1 they returned to an essay question two years ago. And for #2, they give you a choice of prompts.

My tips are in blue below.

Essays:

At Berkeley-Haas, we seek candidates from a broad range of cultures, backgrounds, and industries who demonstrate a strong cultural fit with our program and defining principles. Our distinctive culture is defined by four key principles — Question the Status Quo, Confidence Without Attitude, Students Always, and Beyond Yourself. Please use the following essays as an opportunity to reflect on and share with us the values, experiences, and accomplishments that have helped shape who you are.

(Learn more about Berkeley-Haas' Defining Principles)

Please use the following essays as opportunities to reflect on and share with us the values, experiences, and accomplishments that have helped shape who you are.

As you are answering the following four questions really think about Haas' defining principles and when possible tie your answer and experiences to those principles. As I frequently do, I want to warn you against simply repeating the principles or stuffing them into your essays. That's a waste of time and space. Use your essays to reveal that you share those values and have those qualities.

1. If you could choose one song that expresses who you are, what is it and why? (250 word maximum)

If it's heavy metal, go for it. And if it's a Beethoven Sonata, let it sing forth. And if it's a classic folk song that you learned as a child in a non-Western country, don't hesitate to share that information too. The "what" isn't nearly as important as the "why." Be authentic and tell them your favorite song, whatever it is. And then tell them why you love it.  Is it the lyrics, the melody, or the meaning you ascribe to it?

2.  Please respond to one of the following prompts: (250 word max)
• Describe an experience that has fundamentally changed the way you see the world and how it transformed you.

• Describe a significant accomplishment and why it makes you proud.

• Describe a difficult decision you have made and why it was challenging.

First question: Which to choose? Select the one that you can answer most easily and enthusiastically and that complements the other essays and information found elsewhere.

Please note that each option is asking for one experience or one accomplishment, or one difficult decision. Haas seeks an example that you find meaningful and illustrative of how you approach situations and events. they want a window into how you act and think. Whatever option you choose, don't omit answering what comes after the "and."

Try to choose an event that illustrates you identifying with at least one of Haas' 4 Principles.

3. Tell us about your path to business school and your future plans. How will the Berkeley-Haas experience help you along this journey? (500 words max)

This is a connect-the-dots goals question.  What do you want to do after you earn your MBA? How has what you have done in the past convinced you this is the right path for you? How will the Haas MBA experience prepare you to achieve your goals for your MBA?

You don't have to answer the questions I posed in the order I posed them, but the strong answer to this question will answer all three questions if you want to answer Haas' question. And to answer the about the Berkeley-Haas experience, you must thoroughly understand Haas program and culture.  How will take advantage of its strengths?
Supplemental Information:

1.  If you have not provided a letter of recommendation from your current supervisor, please explain. If not applicable, enter N/A.
Keep it short and sweet. This is primarily for those of you who don’t want to tell your boss yet that you plan to leave.

2. List in order of importance all community and professional organizations and extracurricular activities in which you have been involved during or after university studies. Include the following information for each organization or activity using the format below:
• Name of organization or activity
• Nature of organization or activity
• Size of organization
• Dates of involvement
• Offices held
• Average number of hours spent per month

Whenever possible, quantify your impact or contribution. Please note that Haas is not interested in high school grades or activities. Note also that they want the list not in chronological order, but in order of importance -- however you define "importance."

3. List full-time and part-time jobs held during undergraduate or graduate studies, indicating the employer, job title, employment dates, location, and the number of hours worked per week for each position held prior to the completion of your degree.

Again, quantify as much as possible your responsibilities and impact. Focus on achievements. Avoid  job descriptions that are obvious from your job title.

4. If you have ever been subject to academic discipline, placed on probation, suspended, or required to withdraw from any college or university, please explain. If not, please enter N/A. (An affirmative response to this question does not automatically disqualify you from admission.)

Please, please, please don’t “forget” to answer this question if it applies to you. It’s far worse to ignore it than to answer it.

Optional Essay: Is there any other information you would like to share that is not presented elsewhere in the application? You may also use this essay to provide further explanation of employment gaps or your quantitative abilities. (500 word maximum)

A bonus! If there is an element in your background, be it personal, academic or professional, that you have not revealed elsewhere and would like the adcom to know about, this is the spot. Give them another reason to admit you, but don’t submit the grand summary, appeal, or closing statement. Keep it succinct and focused.

Obviously, you could use this essay to explain a weakness, but that would leave your application ending on a weakness, which is less than optimal. Try to fit the explanation in somewhere else in the app or if necessary tuck the weakness into this essay, but have the main focus of this essay be something positive. For example: Your pride in working your way through undergrad, the challenges, and the ultimate satisfaction of learning to manage your time.

If you would like professional guidance with your UC Berkeley Haas MBA application, please consider Accepted’s MBA essay editing and MBA admissions consulting or our MBA Application Packages, which include advising, editing, interview coaching, and a resume edit for the Haas MBA application. 

UC Berkeley Haas 2016 MBA Application Deadlines

 



 


By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the new, definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools2016 MBA Application Essay Tips
• UC Berkeley Haas Zone Page
• Why MBA? [Free Guide]

This article originally appeared on blog.accepted.com.

Accepted.com's experienced admissions consultants can help you create the most impressive application possible with comprehensive packages, or provide targeted assistance from picking perfect programs to designing a dazzling resume, constructing engaging essays, or preparing for intense interviews…and more! Accepted.com has guided thousands of applicants to acceptances at top programs since 1994 – we know what works and what doesn't, so contact us to get started now!

Accepted.com    ~ The Premier Admissions Consultancy

I am in for R1 and will also be attending the Diversity Workshop.

Haas has released the essay questions for Fall 2016:


Please use the following essays as opportunities to reflect on and share with us the values, experiences, and accomplishments that have helped shape who you are.

Essay #1
If you could choose one song that expresses who you are, what is it and why? (250 words maximum)

Essay #2
Please respond to one of the following prompts: (250 words maximum)

Describe an experience that has fundamentally changed the way you see the world and how it transformed you.
Describe a significant accomplishment and why it makes you proud.
Describe a difficult decision you have made and why it was challenging.
Essay #3
Tell us about your path to business school and your future plans. How will the Berkeley-Haas experience help you along this journey? (500 words maximum)

Optional Essay
Is there any other information you would like to share that is not presented elsewhere in the application? You may also use this essay to provide further explanation of employment gaps or your quantitative abilities. (500 words maximum)

Are you really applying to all of those schools in R1?

FROM Haas Admissions Blog: Considering Business School? Meet Berkeley-Haas.

Perhaps your business school journey began with a nagging sense that there must be something more to the 9-to-5. Something with more passion, more ownership. So, you decide to get an MBA — to open doors to leadership and opportunity. And now, you begin the process of weighing what seems like a staggering number of options for business school. How will you choose?  These could be the best two years of your life. You probably realize that a number of programs are well positioned to help you to advance your career, start a business, or pursue a dream. We would like to tell what differentiates the Berkeley MBA from other top-tier programs: A Location with a Long History of Innovation Our Bay Area location gives you direct access to leaders across many industries, including global technology, venture capital, cleantech, biotech—even the U.S. wine market. Lyft's CEO was among those to address the >play Digital Media Conference, 600+ student and industry attendees strong. In addition to the access the Bay Area affords you, you can tap into UC Berkeley, a world-class research university, for cross-disciplinary classes and colleagues. Team an MBA student with a mechanical engineer and you bring new clean technology to market. A Class Size that Yields a Student-Driven Experience Yes, it’s who you know. But it’s also how well you know them. At Haas, you will benefit from one of the smallest class sizes among top business schools, helping you quickly get to know each of your accomplished (yet attitude-free) classmates.  Bonding starts with orientation (“Week Zero”). Being smaller also means our students make things happen. They create industry events for hundreds of attendees that explore topics from digital media to healthcare to women in leadership. Women in Leadership Conference Co-Chairs Stephanie Curran and Lauren Fernandez.  Students plan global treks for their classmates that include sipping tea with the vice president of Taiwan, touring a Toyota plant in Japan, meeting the mayor of Jerusalem, and much more. Students on a semester break trek in Israel. A Culture that forges Innovative Leaders and Lifelong Friendships Here at Berkeley-Haas, we focus on developing innovative leaders, honing their skills both in the classroom and through a set of defining principles and values shared by the entire Berkeley-Haas community. Question the Status Quo, one of four Berkeley-Haas Defining Principles. In the Berkeley MBA Program, students, faculty, and alumni contribute to a collaborative environment. Professors request feedback on their teaching. Students ask questions that further the dialogue and share their expertise with classmates. Alumni eager engage with the community as speakers, mentors, interviewers and career resources. TubeMogul co-founders, Brett Wilson and John Hughes, both MBA 07, took first place in Haas’ business plan competition while students. So, that’s a little about us (OK, more than a little). We would love hear about you. What’s your background?  Where are you headed?  What are your interests? We hope you’ll take the time to tell us  and let us know how we can help.

FROM Haas Admissions Blog: Career Advancement: Part-time MBA Student Takes Off at Lockheed Martin

Noting that Lockheed Martin is “good about letting people try new things,” Katherine Pease, MBA 15, is on her third “new thing” at work since enrolling in the Berkeley-Haas Evening & Weekend MBA Program. She moved from Southern California to Northern California, and from a quality department position to one in facilities when she started the program. Recently, she accepted a promotion into a technical assistant position—that’s Lockheed-speak for chief of staff—in THAAD, an engineering department that designs and sells sophisticated defensive missile systems. “This is a much more technical department that I’ve worked in before, and I’m not a technical person, which is actually an asset. My role is really to help align the business and technical aspects, to connect with and engage our employees,” she says. “That means using a lot of the skills I learned in Leadership Communication, for example. “I also find myself applying what I’ve learned in various strategy classes to make sure we’re looking out across all of the stages of development, from initial design to upgrades and even planning for obsolescence and the systems that come next.” Pease also traces her success in her interview for the promotion back to what she practiced in class. “Just like discussing a case study, my answers had to be comprehensive and concise. I had to think on my feet, to articulate quickly and precisely,” she says of the five-minute, three-question interview—which “fit perfectly with my new manager’s super-efficient style.” Strategic. Articulate. Polished. And now, promoted—a good set of career takeaways. What could you take from a part-time MBA program?

FROM Haas Admissions Blog: Infographic: Meet the Full-Time Berkeley MBA Class of 2017

They converged from 46 countries in Berkeley this week, diving into the MBA experience by tackling their first case study (followed by a surprise appearance from the subject of the case, Virgin America CEO David Cush); getting inspiration from Revolution Foods Co-founders Kristin Richmond and Kirsten Tobey, MBA 06; learning the fundamentals of teamwork and then bonding over wacky games; and helping to spruce up a playground for a nonprofit that serves homeless families. They bring an incredibly diverse range of backgrounds and experiences, from patenting a portable ventilation device that improves circulation in trauma patients, to flying helicopter search-and-rescue missions, to winning five gold medals for the U.S. National Bowling Team. They are the Full-time Berkeley MBA Class of 2017, and we can't wait to get to know them even better!

FROM Haas Admissions Blog: MBA Internships: Finding the right fit at Clorox

Student: Ryann Kopacka, Full-time MBA 16 MBA Internship: Associate Marketing Manager at Clorox Role: I split my time between two teams, working with the Home Care Innovation group and the Pine Sol brand. Why Clorox: I have a master's in industrial engineering, and I started my career in management consulting. Soon after arriving at Haas, I got excited about marketing and brand management and realized that I wanted to learn more. Clorox was a great fit for that. Clorox is not just about bleach—in fact, the company has a diverse portfolio of brands, like Glad, Kingsford Charcoal, Hidden Valley Ranch, Brita, and Burt's Bees. Thrilled about: I'm drawn to consumer packaged goods, or CPG—tangible products I can see on the shelves. As a consultant, my end product was a PowerPoint deck and a recommendation, but with CPG, I can see a product through from start to finish. In fact, I will see the result of one of my internship projects on the shelves in stores this January. Also in CPG, the brand is the hub of the wheel and the driver of the business. I really thrive in that kind of environment. Marketing is changing. It still involves creativity and communications and advertising, but the best marketers today are incorporating big data and leveraging technology, like social media platforms. Brands that are successful today are those that can harness that data, analyze it, and then make informed, data-driven decisions.   Haas skills applied: I set up my class schedule this past spring to prepare me for a marketing internship. The Marketing Research class taught me how to effectively gather qualitative and quantitative data, which came into play this summer when I chose to do consumer testing on my products through focus groups and surveys. I have also learned at Haas how to work on diverse teams and the value of different perspectives. I leaned on these Haas experiences to tap into the expertise of my cross-functional teams at Clorox to hear from each party, synthesize our ideas, and make decisions with the alignment of the team. A highlight: One of the high points of the internship was leading a redesign of one of Clorox's product's packaging to modernize the brand. Working with designers through a number of feedback rounds was a huge learning experience, and helped me better understand the importance—and the difficulty—of giving feedback to the design team that would direct the project toward our objectives while still leaving space for creativity. Big takeaway: I came to Haas with the goal of exploring new career paths, and finding something that would be a good fit for me. It's been a personal adventure, discovering what kind of leader I am, and the difference between leading from the mind and leading from the heart. When I lead with my heart, like I was able to do this summer at Clorox, I feel much more refreshed and present in my work and in my life. —By Kate Madden Yee   More MBA internship stories: Design Thinking in Practice at Ideo Consulting on Main Street Thinking Big at Amazon