Calling all Haas (Berkeley) Applicants: 2017 Intake (Class of 2019)!!

Welcome to all prospective Berkeley Haas full time MBA applicants to the Class of 2019 discussion. Use this platform to know each-other, build network, exchange ideas/information, discuss application strategies, share interview /school visit experiences, and boost one-another's morale to face the tough admission process.

Good luck to all!

Berkeley-Haas 2016-17 Application Essays

Required Essays

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

Your song can be in any language, from any culture, and does not need to contain lyrics. The strongest responses will focus on answering why this song expresses who you are.


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 time when you were challenged by perspectives different from your own and how you responded.
  
• Describe a difficult decision you have made and why it was challenging.

In your response, clearly indicate to which prompt (1, 2, or 3) you are responding. We do not have a preference among the prompts and suggest that you select the one for which you can share a specific experience, professional or personal.


Essay #3
Tell us about your career plans. How have your past experiences prepared you to achieve these goals? How will Berkeley-Haas help you? (500 words maximum)

You are encouraged to reflect on what it is you want to do after business school, including the types of roles, responsibilities, and organizations that are of interest. Through this essay we hope to learn about your professional journey to date and how an MBA will facilitate your success - broadly defined - in the future.

Optional Essay

Use this essay to share information that is not presented elsewhere in the application, for example:

• Explanation of employment gaps or academic aberrations
• Quantitative abilities
• For re-applicants, improvements to your candidacy

Essay Analysis and Tips from EXPARTUS

Haas’ essay section is longer than those of many other schools, and several questions have multiple parts. Make sure that you allocate enough space to each part or point of the question.

The first question is among the more creative questions B-schools are asking MBA applicants to tackle this year. The broad range of choices available – there are millions of songs in the world – makes it a tough one to answer.

– Focus on the why first: If you are overwhelmed thinking of the number of songs you could choose, try working backwards. Think about the attributes and character traits that best express your unique identity and what you want to share with admissions officials. The question directs you to focus on the “why,” so start there. What are the most important aspects of your personality and attitude that you want to share? Once you know that answer, it will be easier to choose a song.

– Put the song in context: Imagery is such a powerful literary device. Consider offering the admissions officials a vivid mental image of the role this song has played in your life. Perhaps you remember your mother singing it. Maybe you listen to it during long runs. Whatever it is, use a sentence or two to create a vivid mental picture.

– Apply the song to your professional outlook: Whatever attitude or trait the song is expressing, it has likely impacted your professional outlook and attitude in the business world. Connect the dots for admissions officials. Show them how the attributes that your song choice reflects are also reflected in your professional life.

The second question allows you to choose a specific experience to convey to the admissions committee – one that changed your perspective, challenged you to embrace diversity or forced you to make a tough choice.

– Highlight something new: Haas gives you three essays. Make sure that your answers are not redundant. For this question, choose the prompt that best allows you to highlight a theme you will not be able to fully address in the other two essays.

– Create a narrative arc: For this question, try using a classic narrative progression: problem, solution, proof. Describe the problem or challenge you encountered, explain your reaction and decision-making process, and show how it changed your outlook and future actions.

– Make every word count: You only have 250 words here, and you will likely have a lot of narrative to convey. If you need to, write a longer draft to get your thoughts down on paper. Then, go back and study each sentence to see if it is necessary or could be said more concisely. In the end, every word should clearly advance your narrative.

Haas’ last essay question is an MBA standby. Use it to convince the admissions committee that Haas should be a part of your career.

– Name drop: We’re not asking you to name famous people, but you should name industries, companies and organizations that are important to your future plans. Be as specific as you can. Name companies that you admire, share why you admire them and how you hope to incorporate those priorities into your career.

– Take a walk down memory lane: Haas specifically asks to learn about your professional journey up until this point. You don’t need to outline your whole resume, but you should hit the high points, and even more importantly, share why you made key career choices along the way.

– Define success: Haas’ tips for this essay state that they hope to learn how an MBA will facilitate your success – broadly defined – in the future. They are not just talking about financial or even professional success. They want to know what success means to you – professionally and personally – and how your definition fits with Haas’ definition of successful alumni.

Because Haas gives you relatively few words per question, outline each essay question and carefully notice which key factors of your personal brand will shine through in which essays. This will allow you to convey the information you need to share as concisely and powerfully as possible.

- See more at: https://gmatclub.com/blog/2016/06/haas-s ... zEZou.dpuf

Be the coolest guy in the MBA Forum - Be a threadmaster!

Blatantly put, a threadmaster is a sheriff of each school threads If you are passionate for Berkeley-Haas and confident that you can lead this thread & keep it full of life, then PM your request to me.

Here is a list of tasks that help applicants to share and discuss their experiences and make the thread stronger.

In for round 2. Let's get this party started.
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Did you just find out today?

found what exactly?


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Oh sorry, I thought you meant you received admission today, haha.

Oh sorry, I thought you meant you received admission today, haha.[/quote] won't that be sweet! But I'm fresh meat, with hopes for the class of 2019.


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Applying R1

Subbed.
Applying round 1, fingers crossed!

If you haven't met up with an alum yet for a Summer Coffee Chat, I strongly recommend it. Given how serious they are about protecting their culture, it's important to get an understanding of it from an alum. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mrKfxTTug83IUp0JewQWlJ2_E9K89Dji1v2pT-wmoj8/edit#gid=0

Also some other important admissions events taking place in July https://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/admissions/offcampus.html
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FROM Haas Admissions Blog: Design Thinking Goes Abroad

Berkeley MBA students now have another opportunity to experience business culture abroad, while polishing their consulting and design thinking skills at the same time. This past spring, 30 full- and part-time MBA students from the Full-time and Evening & Weekend Berkeley MBA Programs traveled to the Netherlands to participate in Design Thinking for Business Innovation. The new course, says Kristiana Raube, executive director of the Haas School's International Business Development (IBD) program, "teaches students an interactive, dynamic approach to leading innovation, while fostering a deep understanding of one organization in an international setting.”  Lecturer Rajiv Ball, a former McKinsey & Company partner and current partner with the THNK School of Creative Leadership in Amsterdam, teaches the course, which incorporates THNK curriculum and combines elements from both the Berkeley-Haas Seminars in International Business (SIB) and IBD. Like SIB, the course is one week long, and like IBD, it focuses on a single “real world” problem for an international organization. Students learn a structured approach to innovation that combines design thinking, innovation strategy, leadership, and entrepreneurship, generate new insights for a client, and, in this case, learn about business in the Netherlands. During their week abroad students partnered with Jumbo, a major Dutch supermarket chain, to help reduce food waste in its customers’ homes.  Before arriving in the Netherlands, the students researched food waste, as well as trends in the Dutch grocery industry and consumer habits. They then spent five days at THNK where they formed teams to come up with innovative solutions to the problem and concluded the week by pitching their ideas to top-level JUMBO executives. After pitching their ideas to JUMBO executives, student celebrate with a tapas cooking lesson and dinner

FROM Haas Admissions Blog: Preparing for the GMAT: The Night Before

It's the evening before you take the GMAT, and you've likely spent the last few months preparing for the exam. Whether you signed up for a GMAT course, studied with a friend, or guided yourself through exercises and workbooks, you may still feel nervous—and that's completely normal. In order to wake up on exam day feeling truly rested and ready, taking certain steps to prepare the night before is essential. Here are a few ways you can prepare–and that doesn't mean logging more study hours–for GMAT success the following day.  1. Don't study. Studies on memory show that last-minute cramming doesn't do us any good. Rather than trying to teach yourself a concept or memorize information the night before the exam, put away your test materials. Trust that the hours of preparation you've put in will pay off, and don't stress yourself out with last-minute cramming that won't even help you perform better. 2. Have all your to-go gear ready. One of the best ways to ensure you wake up on test day feeling calm and prepared is to have all your essential items in one place, ready to go. Put your wallet, keys, phone, whatever you need next to the door or in a spot that you'll remember them. The last thing you need to do before you go take the GMAT is to frantically search for your car keys. 3. Eat dinner before 9 pm. It may sound silly, but eating right before we go to bed often affects our sleep quality. There's been a good deal of research on the connection between food and sleep quality, and many studies show that eating something sugary right before bed, or even eating something you don't normally eat late at night, can lead to nightmares. So eat a healthy dinner, and don't eat right before you go to sleep. 4. Have a plan for the morning. Routines not only help us commit to things like exercise or waking up at a decent hour, they also help us feel secure. Put your mind at ease the night before the GMAT by writing down what you'll do the next morning. Whether you'll go for a walk to your favorite coffee shop, head to the gym, or read the newspaper, having a plan for the day of the GMAT will probably help you sleep better. 5. Know the test-day details. You certainly shouldn't go to sleep the night before the exam without knowing the details of time and location for your test. Double check when and where you need to be, and if you're someone who gets anxiety about these items, write them down. Give your brain and body every advantage to relax and get a good night sleep the evening before the GMAT—don't go to bed with uncertainty around important day-of details. For professional tips from Berkeley MBA programs, download our free Ebook, Avoiding the GMAT Blues  for tips on how to plan for success on exam day.

FROM Haas Admissions Blog: Part-time MBA Students: From Everywhere, Going All Kinds of Places

There are so many benefits to a part-time MBA program: You can pursue a degree alongside your career, invest in your present and your future, and learn about fields you've always been interested in. At Berkeley-Haas, students enjoy all of these perks—and a few more. In addition to a campus location with proximity to careers in just about every field you can think of, students also benefit from expansive diversity and talent among their classmates.  No matter your professional background or career goals, you’ll find a place to learn and grow at Berkeley-Haas. Evening and weekend MBA students enrich the Berkeley-Haas experience by bringing different experiences and interests to the classroom, with student who are veterans, technology product managers, financial consultants, healthcare professionals, and more. The Evening & Weekend Berkeley MBA Program is home to students who come from everywhere—and are going all kinds of places. When Alicea Wu decided she wanted to transition from her role as a physician to a more business-centered role in drug safety and public health, she chose the part-time MBA program at Berkeley-Haas to gain the skills and knowledge she needed to make her career move successful.  “My MBA studies have helped me understand organizations better on a higher level,” she says. “With the foundations of finance, operations, and statistics under my belt, I see my job in a different light. It is not just a list of to-do's—I can see how each of my to-do's fits into the bigger picture and how it helps the organization on a high level. Because Berkeley-Haas EWMBA students come from all over, they represent the very best talent from many different fields. The diverse student body at Haas is representative of how eclectic and fluid the business world itself is. You meet students from organizations completely different than your own, as well as students who share a similar professional path, bonding with people you have something in common with and building relationships with peers you’d have never met otherwise.  Alex Polyansky wanted to apply his engineering background to his entrepreneurial dreams, enrolling in the EWMBA after working as a patent examiner at the US Patent & Trademark Office. He was confident that Haas would introduce him to new opportunities—and new relationships. Sure enough, a classmate soon connected Alex with a patent attorney who helped Alex co-found Nventi, a startup that converts patent data. “Four hours [into our meeting], we had the idea that became Nventi,” he recalls. Serving as co-founder and COO, Alex is also able to apply much of what he learned at Haas directly to his budding business: “There is no better way to learn and benefit from your studies,” says Alex. And you learn new ways of thinking and working through the varying perspectives of your classmates. If you’re considering completely changing your career course, or perhaps just slightly pivoting to a different position, you have the valuable experience of learning from other students who’ve done what you haven’t (yet)—and they seek out your unique perspective as well. From case studies and classroom discussion, to consulting opportunities, you are able to contribute more through listening and learning from your peers. Desirae Early found great support from her experienced classmates when she decided to use her MBA to pursue a career in management consulting. “Classmates and recent grads who work in the (consulting) field were so generous with their insights and advice,” she says.   And she has strengthened her new found role at McKinsey by applying problem-solving approaches and discussions from class. “Many of my Berkeley MBA classes have been applicable in my role at McKinsey,” she says. “I used methods taught in class to change our approach on a client project. Other skills from marketing, operations, and finance classes are in my mind on a daily basis.” Perhaps you’ll go in an unexpected direction—or exactly where you always saw yourself. With classmates and professors who represent a breadth of fields, you have access to networks that can take you exactly where you always planned, or open doors to completely new possibilities.   k

FROM Haas Admissions Blog: How to Evaluate an Executive MBA Program

Once you’ve decided to pursue your business degree through an executive MBA program, there’s a lot to consider, so how do you assess which program is the perfect fit? You’ll likely find that all of the top programs have strong curriculum, faculty, and alumni networks—so how else can you evaluate an executive MBA program? Should you look at school values? The culture of the student community? Unique geographic benefits? Here are five tips from the Berkeley MBA for Executives Program on how to evaluate an executive MBA program:  1. See how the EMBA program’s values align with yours. This is about finding a match with what matters most to you. Consider the underlying values that drive your decisions and that shape how you live your life, then: Explore the program’s website and marketing materials to see if these values emerge Read school mission statements Talk to admissions officers and to students to find out how the school’s stated values come to life on campus.  2. Dig into student culture and community. The relationships you'll make in your executive MBA program are lifelong and are shaped by the mix of students. To assess this: Take a look at the class profile to learn about the diversity of industries and backgrounds represented. Consider how well the structure and location of the program will foster community. Read student profiles for a sense of the different perspectives students bring to the classroom Come to campus to meet students for yourself, and ask them what they hope to get out of their studies and why they chose their program. 3. Consider schedule and structure. Programs differ in their timelines and class schedules, so assess what kind of trajectory and experience you’re looking for, and ask yourself: For how many months or years can you feasibly balance your personal life and your professional life with school? How often is it workable for you to come to campus? Do class sessions (frequency, length, residency) facilitate bonding with colleagues? Is it important to you to have access to the activities and students of a business school campus, or would a program in a satellite location offer what you need?  4. Look for what sets them apart. Every program offers (and highlights) particular advantages, like a well-established network in a specific field, or geographic proximity to certain industries, or the mix of learning approaches. Determine the special characteristics of each program, and decide which are most relevant for you. The Berkeley MBA for Executives Program, for example, emphasizes on-the-ground learning, with five immersion weeks that take deep dives on specific topics in related locales, such as one on entrepreneurship and startup culture in Silicon Valley, one on the intersection of business and policy Washington, DC, and a global immersion through which students have explored business culture and topics in Singapore and Brazil.  5. Experience the program yourself. Nothing will give you better insight into a program than visiting. Come to campus to: Hear from and talk with current students Meet with admissions staff in person Sit in on a class Get an authentic feel for the community and for the culture of the program.  Want to experience the Berkeley MBA for Executives Program for yourself? Join us soon for an admissions event.

FROM Haas Admissions Blog: IBD Gives Students an International MBA Experience

U.S. News & World Report recently ranked Berkeley-Haas #3 among the “10 Best Business Schools for an International MBA,” citing the school’s  International Business Development Program (IBD) program for providing an “international edge.” Each spring and summer, some 80 Berkeley MBA students participate in the IBD Program, with 16 teams traveling to 14 different countries to work in fields from ecotourism to technology to healthcare.  More than 1,200 students have taken part in the program over the last 20+ years, applying skills learned in the classroom to challenging management consulting projects in more than 80 countries from Argentina to Zimbabwe (above).     One IBD team explored automotive markets in India and shared this GIF on the Haas in the World Blog Before traveling abroad, IBD students group into teams of five and consult remotely with their assigned client for four months. They then spend three weeks in-country, further refining their project and delivering a final presentation to their client. In September, the teams present their projects to the Berkeley-Haas community and prospective IBD clients at the IBD Conference. Sebastian Amenabar and three of his full-time MBA classmates, Dan Fishman, Emilio Rosseto, and James Chow traveled to Zimbabwe. There they helped UK-based venture capital firm Apsara Capital develop and deliver a workshop for budding African entrepreneurs. Traveling first to Africa University in Mutare and then to the University of Zimbabwe in Harare, the team built on a three-day pilot program developed by a previous IBD team, expanding it to an intense week-long workshop—the ACT Entrepreneurship Project—where college students identify problems, then develop and iterate solutions with business potential (below). “Many students in Zimbabwe have no entrepreneurial experience, so we first sent them out into the community to talk with people and identify pain points,” says Sebastian. “A lot of people there have trouble paying bills, which is often done via text messages, and there are also a lot of power outages, so many of the students’ business ideas related to payments and electricity.” The workshop culminated in a pitch competition at both universities, judged by Apsara Capital and Zimbabwe investors, who selected a winner to receive mentorship and resources. During the project, Sebastian and his team drew heavily on the design thinking techniques in the core Berkeley MBA course, Problem Finding Problem Solving. The team also benefited from the different skill sets of its members, which included teaching and pitching  “This was a great opportunity to be culturally challenged by having to work hands-on in an international setup,” says Sebastian. “We had to keep adapting ourselves.”  Ariana Alisjahbana, another full-time MBA student, joined Claire Bianchi and Patrick Scandling on an IBD engagement in China. The team developed an overview and analysis of investment trends in Silicon Valley for YY Inc., a Guangzhou–based social media company that specializes in live streaming videos and related virtual product sales. YY is a public company listed on NASDAQ and has approximately 400 million users. “One reason I came to Berkeley-Haas was I wanted to transition into the technology industry, so I was excited to be assigned to a large tech company in China,” Ariana says. Her IBD engagement not only gave her valuable consulting experience, it proved helpful later, she added, when she joined Google in Singapore for an internship. “Work experience at a Chinese technology company is something rare and valuable. I can provide a point of view that few others have, and this helped raise my credibility.”

Undecided if I'll be doing round 1 or round 2. What's got me stuck is the "song" question, and making sure it doesn't overlap with the second "experience that fundamentally..." question.

How have you all chosen to go about the song question? Any anecdotal advice if round 1 or 2 is more advantageous or does it truly make no difference?

I think the song essay is like an interviewer asking you what animal you'd be, they just want to see how you react to an unorthodox and open-ended opportunity to express yourself. I went with a song that I connect with a pivotal time in my life, but it's so open-ended I think as long as you can explain how it has meaning to you and it's well written you should be fine. That said I also had a few hiccups early on in relation to that stated overlap between essay 1 and experience that changed you essay.

As for the rounds I always hear 1st round is generally the better of the 2 to apply, but everything I read is typically in relation to having a low GPA (yay me). I would think with your stats they'd be looking at the later rounds to bump their averages versus taking fliers on low GPA people or odd backgrounds; but I don't think I've ever seen that be stated as the case. If you can't get it done confidently in time for round 1 though and need more time that's probably your answer.

Any current students here? Would love to hear their experience.