BerkeleyInterview

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Below are interview reports from those who have interviewed with Berkeley.

Further insight and strategic advice on the interview process at the Haas School of Business can be found in the Clear Admit Interview Guide. Detailed information on academic resources, student culture, and social and professional opportunities can be found in the Clear Admit School Guide.

Please add your interview report directly above all other reports. Please also include the date you are publishing your report; the type of interview (adcom / alumni / student) and the admissions round for which you interviewed (R1 / R2 / R3). You will need an account to submit your report.

It's free to sign up and contribute - just click here to create an account or you can e-mail your contribution to wiki@clearadmit.com.

20. Round 3 / Alumnus / Off-campus (Published April 16th, 2010)

My interview was conducted by a 2007 graduate at his office in the evening. Very conversational and comfortable. He didn't really take any notes but was focused on the discussion. Lasted about an hour and a half.

  • Walk me through your resume. (this was the majority of the discussion)
  • Why do you want to go to business school?
  • What do you see yourself doing coming out of business school?
  • What other programs are you interested in at Haas? (beyond the ones I had mentioned that fit with my career plan)
  • Tell me about a time you were able to do something creative/not by the book. (military background)
  • Tell me about a time you... something about wanting to go in a different direction than a supervisor.
  • What kind of leader are you?
  • Do you have any questions for me?

RESULT: Admitted April 21st 2010

19. Round 2 / Alumni / Off-campus (Published February 28th, 2010)

I applied round 2 in December 2009. Early in February I received an invite to Super Saturday in March. I had already visited Berkeley and could not take the time to visit again (from New York City) so I asked for off-campus interview instead. I was paired with a 2009 grad living and working in Brooklyn for a start up (something I'm interested in doing - we were paired because of our similar interests and goals).

We emailed to schedule it, and she asked me to suggest a coffee shop that was convenient to both of us. We met an evening after work - I went 15 minutes early to prepare and get a seat but she was already there so we started right after I got some tea. She was very friendly and nice though somewhat formal in her questioning. She definitely had a script and went by it - there wasn't much chit chat between my answers.

Questions were:

  • Walk me through your resume & your career to date
  • Tell me about your current role
  • Tell me about your experiencing managing people - are you managing direct reports now? What about cross functional teams like operations, finance, etc.?
  • Tell me about a time you experienced conflict with someone on your team & how did you resolve it?
  • What are your long and short term goals? Follow up - what kind of business do you want to start?
  • Why business school?
  • What will success look like for you? How do you define success?
  • Tell me about a time when you had an idea and you were swimming against the tide - what did you do to get your idea/plan across?
  • Why Haas?
  • If you were admitted, what's unique about you that you could contribute to Haas? What about outside the classroom?
  • Tell me something that's not on your resume
  • Any questions for me?

Took about 1/2 hour. Pretty standard stuff. A few seemed very vague and threw me a bit (like defining success... in business? life?) but she seemed to want me to interpret them however I wanted. Once we got to my questions for her, she relaxed considerably and opened up about her experiences at Haas. We spent the next half hour chatting and she was very helpful in giving me tips about classes, programs, etc. Definitely felt like the chemistry increased at that point and both of us could just be ourselves and get to know each other. Overall seemed to go well - fingers crossed!

18. Round 1 / Student / On-campus (Published February 12th, 2010 by mbajourney2012)

I was waitlisted in R1 at Haas (UC Berkeley). All waitlisted applicants have an option to "enhance" their application, whether by seeking additional recommendation letters, re-taking the GMATs, submitting additional statements, etc. Another option is to have an interview, which is an opportunity I jumped on since I wanted to visit Haas anyway.

I scheduled an interview on campus for Monday morning. I arrived with about 45 minutes to spare, and spent the time going through my notes over a coffee in a Haas cafe, Fifo. I made my way to the admissions office ten minutes before the interview, and settled in waiting to be called.

Since the interview was scheduled on campus, I was expecting to be interviewed by an Admissions rep. I was a bit surprised when a student sitting in the chair next to me got up on the hour and headed my way to introduce herself. Lauren was really friendly, and she almost immediately mentioned that she is an alumna of my current company, so I felt at ease right away. We found a room, settled in, and began the conversation.

The questions were exactly the kind that you would expect from an MBA interview:

  • Why MBA?
  • Why Haas?
  • Tell me about a time you had to act on someone's feedback
  • What are you most proud of? (at this point, I mentioned that I moved to the States when I was 14, and I was very proud of how much I have achieved so far)
  • As a follow up to the story, what was it that allowed you to succeed at that?
  • Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult situation on a team
  • Tell me about a time you took a risk

Overall, the interview felt very conversational and not at all stressful. I am sure it did help that after my MIT Sloan interview a month earlier, I replayed the interview in my head over and over again, analyzing everything I said, so I was well prepared for the questions. And of course, having an MIT Sloan acceptance in the pocket was a huge confidence booster.

As far as advice goes, I cannot stress enough doing your research. Using specific examples (i.e., the Experimental learning project in Zambia sounds really interesting because...) will make the conversation standout, as opposed to a generic "Haas has interesting classes." And last, but not least - be yourself!

17. Round 1 / Alum / Off-campus / Admitted (Published January 27th, 2010)

Haas invited me to interview off-campus in the Bay Area about three weeks before the decision deadline. While I was initially confused and concerned that my interview would be off-campus as opposed to Super Saturday, I learned from reading some online chats with Haas Admissions that Super Saturday is primarily for non-Bay Area residents and that an alumni interview was certainly no slight.

I met the alumnus at his office, and he escorted me to a conference room. The alumnus was very friendly and prepared to interview me that morning (e.g., my resume printed out with some notes on it). The interview is blind except for the resume.

The interview lasted an hour and was quite relaxed and enjoyable, albeit still professional. The main questions were:

  • Why MBA?
  • Short-term and long-term career plan (both goals and how I plan to go step-by-step toward those goals)
  • What specifically I hope to gain from Haas (including what classes I was interested in taking)
  • What specifically I can contribute to Haas
  • Tell me about your job and what you do at the office
  • Tell me about a time when you had a difficult interaction with someone at work
  • Tell me about a time when you made an impact at work
  • Questions for him

I was surprised by just how specific I was asked to be about the program, so it is essential that you have done thorough homework about Haas and know exactly how Haas fits into your career goals. That being said, the interviewer absolutely wanted me to succeed and did not try to grill or trick me. He wanted to make sure that I understood what Haas was all about and that I would be a good fit for the program.

The best way to prepare is to compile a list of all of the questions that have been listed in this wiki for Haas (and probably from other schools with alumni interviews, such as Stanford) and then go through all of the questions to compile answers or stories that you would give. Other than that know details about Haas that are compelling to you and be yourself.

16. Round 1 / Alumni / Off-campus (Published January 19th, 2010)

I was invited to interview with Haas in January 2010, around 3 weeks before the R1 deadline. After being contacted by the school I chose my location (Austin, TX) and was paired with an alumni in the area.

The Haas alumni from the very beginning was very friendly and engaged (more so than other MBA interviews I have had so far) and asked me what questions I might have about the program so he could research them beforehand. He then followed up with some information about several companies started by Haas alumni that I might be interested in.

We agreed to meet at a breakfast joint in Austin. The alumni was on time and very friendly/informal. While he took notes and did ask me some structured questions, the interview was fairly relaxed and no more intense than a typical job interview. There were no 'trick' questions and I tried to incorporate most of the factors I knew he would ask me about into my review of my resume and past experience.

His direct questions included:

  • Why MBA/Haas?
  • Tell me about challenges you've faced in previous positions and how you resolved them?
  • When have you had to deal with a difficult inter-personal relationship at the office and how did you deal with it?
  • What are your goals post-MBA?

I had already visited Haas and thus could speak about the campus and class visit, which seemed beneficial. I think the interview would have been less effective if I had not demonstrated that interest.

Overall the interview lasted 45 minutes but we sat and talked for nearly 1.5 hours total. The alumni also followed up with me after, passing on some additional contacts and information.

15. Round 1 / Alumni / Off-campus / First Shared by The Parisian MBA(Published April 9th, 2009)

My Haas interview took place at the end of 2008 in a hotel restaurant with a spanish Haas alumnus and lasted for 1h in english the all time.

Here is how it went:

When I received the notification I got preselected for an interview, I contacted the selected alumnus and we agreed to make the interview in a place convenient for both of us.

He offered me to do the interview in a restaurant of the Paris business district. As it was only 100m from where I worked, I obviously agreed on that.

When I arrived, my interviewer introduced himself. He was a business developer responsible for the EMEA area for a software company I did not know. He was very friendly and very open to discussion and therefore I relaxed a bit. He then asked me to introduce myself and describe my career to date.

Afterwards he asked me the traditional MBA applicants questions:

  • Why MBA?
  • Why now?
  • What are your goals post-MBA?
  • Why Haas?

He then asked me about challenges I encountered at work. He had prepared the interview well because he asked me some very specific questions.

He also asked about my latest achievement at work and to explain the way I managed people. As I explained that I wanted to focus on Entrepreneurship at Haas, he asked me why I could not start a company without a MBA. He also questionned what were my views on how to set up a business, what kind of people I would need to help me in my projects.

Then he asked about what other schools I applied to and thought it was a coherent set of applications regarding my goals.

Then he asked me whether I had any questions. Therefore I could ask a lot about Entrepreneurship at Haas, Visa issues for Internationals and life at Berkeley.

Afterwards he asked questions about one of the hobbies I mentioned in my file. It was very interesting because one of his friends was doing it professionally and we talked about the challenges we usually meet in this hobby.

The interview finally ended and we said goodbye.

I particularly liked this interview because the interviewer was very experienced and had a lot of hindsight on career and life in general. It was really a pleasure to share ideas with him and get positive feedback from him.

I guess it went well as I finally got in for September 2009!

The Parisian MBA

14. Round 1 / Off-campus / Alum (Published March 27th, 2009)

Probably one of my best interviews till date, and everyone I spoke to confirmed that it sounded really good. The interview questions were ones that could have thrown me off-balance, but my interviewer was awesome - Smiling all the time, so I was so relaxed I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I interviewed off-campus with an alum. I arrived about 1/2 hour early, and since my interviewer also walked in around the same time, we decided to start earlier. My interviewer was alum from the 2006 batch. I tried to find out some background info about him before the interview, but wasn’t able to.

So, atypically, the first question was about whether I would still go to business school if I won a lottery for a million dollars. In my opinion, its a perfect launch pad to establish why you want an MBA, and why it is more important than just to make money. The, it moved to aspects of if I actually had won that imaginary lottery, what would I choose to invest the money in. Since my focus in business school was technology (and since Haas is my fit!), I said that I would choose to invest in emerging technologies.

It moved on to - what in your opinion are 3 of the hottest emerging technologies today. I gave some smooth answers and I knew I had set a pretty good tone for the rest of my interview.

Rest of the questions included:

  • Could you spend 5 minutes taking me through your resume
  • Specific question around an emerging and innovative technology that I had worked upon
  • I’m from a rotational leadership program , so I was asked to describe my best and worst rotations
  • The one thing I missed out on during the Program
  • My role on my current project and organization
  • Why an MBA from Berkeley
  • If I could take a 1-month sabbatical from work, how would I choose to spend it (Choose to talk about my extracurricular here)
  • Which books are you reading now, and what would you recommend for me

After that, I had a chance to discuss at length, about my interviewers experience at Berkeley, specific advice for me, the best faculty, learning and innovation opportunities outside the classroom, how did he make his career choices and how did Berkeley help him in that aspect.

13. Round 2 / On-campus / Second-year Student (Published March 25th, 2009)

These were my interview questions. I interviewed with a student on campus for Round2 (and waitlisted):

  • Walk me through your resume.
  • What are your career goals?
  • Why Haas?
  • Tell me about this experience [X] which you listed in your resume. What did you learn?
  • What do you do in your spare time?
  • What book are you currently reading? Why did you choose it?
  • What is one thing in your application that you did not mention that you would like the admissions committee to know?
  • What do people like about you?

12. Round 1 Waitlist without Interview, Round 2 / Off-campus / Alumni (Originally Shared at RaghuForMBA. Published March 19th, 2009)

I got a waitlist-without-an-interview decision in R1 from Haas and I was asked to schedule an interview. At that time, there was no interviewer available in India. Not wanting to take a telephonic interview, I took the next possible option. I scheduled my interview in Singapore for 21st February 2009. My interviewer worked at McKinsey, Singapore and he was from Indonesia. He was Hass MBA Class of 2005 and had extensive experience working in the US and in SouthEastAsia.

I walked into the Centennial Tower in the Tamasek Avenue at 10:00 and sat in the coffee house sipping cold coffee (Singapore is sultry, just like my hometown Trivandrum), reviewed my notes and entered the McKinsey office at 10:50. My interview was scheduled at 11:00. I sat in the lobby reading the day's paper when my interviewer walked in. After exchanging pleasantries, we spoke at length about my journey to Singapore and I apologized for the confusion that had spewed on my interview schedule, flip-flopping my decision between doing it in India Vs Singapore.

Contrary to the usual, he started by telling me his experience at Haas. What he did and what he enjoyed… Then came the interview. It was really more a discussion than an interview. It lasted a bit more than an hour and was very conversational. He asked me a lot of questions including:

  • Walk me thru your resume
  • A leadership experience (I chose outside of work) - He dove in detail in this asking me about the strategies that I had adopted to deal with the problem and how I mitigated the risks associated with it.
  • Explain a time where you were a humble leader (An interesting question)
  • Why Haas?
  • My goals and how I thought Haas would help me get there
  • What do I know about Strategy Consulting?
  • How can I contribute to class and what I thought was unique in my candidature.

After this we had a big discussion on his days at Haas including his work with BSG (Berkeley Solutions Group). We discussed a case that he was involved with and the recommendations. Quite fun… It reaffirmed my belief of Haas as a place of “Confidence without Attitude” or as he put it, with “Humble Leaders”…

11. Round 1 / On-campus / Adcom / Super Saturday (Published February 9th, 2009)

There were approximately 100 applicants at Super Saturday this year. Interviews were scheduled over four hours and the timing of interviews was random.

I interviewed with Peter Johnson, Director of MBA Admissions. Although I was a bit nervous at first, Mr. Johnson was a very approachable and amiable person and a pleasure to speak with during the interview.

The interview was much more conversational than my previous admission interviews. Throughout our conversation we touched on the following topics:

  • Walk me through your resume.
  • What are your post MBA goals?
  • Why an MBA, why Haas?
  • Tell me about a leadership experience.
  • Tell me about something that you wished you could do differently (short answer #1).

The interview was supposed to last 45 minutes and ended up lasting an hour.

Like I said it was very conversational with some of these responses leading to 10 and 15 minute discussions about various current events, etc. As it has been reported in the past, Haas places significant value on the applicants' personalities and how they would fit within the community.

The one piece of advice I would offer is to do your research on the program and its many opportunities. This will help you both in your interview and in your ultimate decision-making process.

10. Round 3 / Off-Campus / Alumni (Published May 1st, 2008)

I contacted the interviewer via e-mail and he got back to me very quickly. He was out of town for the next 3 weeks but checked with Haas to make sure that interviewing so late (April 18) would be ok. They said fine, and we scheduled.

I met him at his office. I think Haas tries to pair people up with similar professional backgrounds, as we both had experience working in the government sector. Interviewer was friendly but professional, but became more chatty as the interview went on. It was a total of 1 hour on the dot.

These were the questions he asked:

  1. Walk me through your resume. Tell me how/why you made decisions to leave/take jobs as you progressed in your career.
  2. Tell me about a time when you were given constructive feedback. How did you respond?
  3. Why Haas, in particular?
  4. What are you short/long term goals and how does an MBA from Berkeley fit with those?

He also told me that he didn't ask me a lot of questions because I did a good job of illustrating what I did at work, challenges I faced in my roles, things I enjoyed and didn't enjoy about each position I held. He also said that he was going to ask 'why MBA' since I am so accomplished already (couldn't believe that one!) but didn't' because I explained it well when I talked about my long term goals. He left 20 minutes for me to ask questions (make sure you actually have more than a couple), and then we just talked about Haas environment, Bay Area, how amazing all the students are and basically, how excellent the program is. It was very clear that my interviewer loved his time at Haas. I thought it went really well - I left with a big smile on my face.

9. Round 1 / Off-campus / Alum / Admitted! (Published April 15th, 2008)

I interviewed with a recent alum. I got the impression that most of the applicants in my area interviewed during Haas' 'Super Saturday' event on campus, but I happened to complete mine after that date at an off-campus location. I had visited Haas twice prior to the interview and had a good feel for the school's curriculum and culture going into the interview. I can't stress enough how important that was during the interview. Being able to reference particular academic programs, majors, professors, etc. gave my responses to the interviewer's questions much more depth.

I didn't get the typical 'walk me through your resume' instruction. Rather, the interviewer had thoroughly reviewed my resume and had chosen questions that would force me to elaborate on my work experiences. Many questions, while not really curveballs, were porbing and situational in nature: 'Tell me about how you dealt with specific problem X?' and 'How did you show leadership when you managed problem Y'?, 'Tell me why you think your company encountered problem Z'. Other questions were more generic: 'Tell me how you would improve your organization' and 'Where do you see your industry headed in the next 5 years?' though I would say the interview felt more targeted to my experiences than ones at other schools. I didn't get the sense that the interviewer was prompted by a standard list of questions.

I did, however, get the 'Why MBA?' question at some point during the interview, though not at the very beginning. This was my fourth interview so I had the response down cold, as all applicants should. You know it's coming, so there's really no excuse for botching it. My advice to applicants would be to treat this one as a mini-project. I drew from my essays and created a few powerpoint slides that outlined my rationale. I reviewed the slides right before the interview. I also got the 'Why Haas?' question. Again, I created review notes for this question using the following approach: 1) Pretend I'm the dean of Haas. 2) Pretend I'm making a marketing pitch to a potential student who has interests and a background that match mine. 3) Use the points in the marketing pitch as the meat for my response to the 'Why Haas?' question. The role reversal exercise seemed to help me frame my response.

My interviewer was very professional, though not particularly warm. I tried to initiate some light smalltalk at the very beginning of the interview, but my interviewer seemed intent on launching into serious questions immediately. My interviewer also asked to see my driver's license to verify my identity, which I thought was a bid odd (though this is apparently a standard practice for Haas).

8. Round 2 / On-campus / First-year Student (Published March 13th, 2008)

I participated in the Round 2 Super Saturday (March 8th). About 100 applicants were at the Haas campus for the day long event, which included lunch with students, student and career panels, a tour, and the interview.

My interview was conducted by a first-year student. It was blind - he only had the resume I submitted with my application. The adcom folks on hand that day even specifically mentioned that re-using stories from the application was perfectly acceptable, since the interviewer will have not seen the application.

I received a pretty standard set of interview questions:

  • Resume walkthrough
  • Why MBA / Haas
  • Why MBA when I already studied business in undergrad
  • 3 strengths, 3 weaknesses
  • Challenging interaction with a team member
  • If we were in a project group for a class together next spring, how would I contribute?
  • Where do I see myself in five years?
  • Joining a startup or creating my own? (as a result of answer to above)
  • How do you get team members to "break free" of specific silos of responsibility?
  • 30 second elevator pitch

All in all, I think it was a pretty good interview. Most of the questions were fairly standard and since this was my fourth interview, they were questions I'd been pretty prepared for. The few unique questions weren't that far out of left field, so it wasn't hard to come up with a logical answer that fit in well with everything else I was saying. What I found most interesting was that Haas seems to pair applicants with students of similar backgrounds/interests (this thought was also validated with other applicants I talked to that day). I think this lends to a more tailored, applicant-specific interview. I am interested in high-tech, and my interviewer had the same interests, and that shaped a lot of the discussion as we went along (i.e. the 'silo' question above was a result of a discussion on working with engineers). I was impressed with how probing the interview was. The interviewer wasn't just rattling off a list of questions, but tailoring his discussion and asking small follow-ups based on my responses. He wasn't being a jerk, just getting specific with things he thought were worth discussing. The elevator pitch question was the most surprising - but after spending the last 6 months on essays and interview prep, I had my story down pretty well, so it was a fairly easy question to get through (I think I even took less than 30 seconds).

After 30 minutes of his questions, we spent 15 on my own, and I feel he opened up a little more during this time (i.e. took off his interviewer hat and put on his student hat). I used this section to ask questions related to things I feel I didn't get a chance to appropriately mention during the interview (desire to start working with startups while in school, international experiences, what 'path' he is taking within the school based on our similar interests, etc). He seemed to be really receptive to these questions and honest and eager with his answers (he even used bulls*** a couple times).

All in all, the Super Saturday experience was a good one. Being from the east coast, I hadn't had a chance to visit the school and really understand it beyond the online stuff and conversations I'd had with the one current student I know. The events, including the interview, are meant to give a feel for fit with the school, and they certainly made a good impression on me.

7. Haas Evening and Weekend MBA Interview / Round 1. (Published December 19, 2007)

I arrived 30 min early. The interviewer was 10 min late. We walked into her office ( smaller than I had thought ) and she stated that this was essentially a blind interview because she hadn't seen my essays, reccos, GMAT scores, etc. She had a copy of my resume and asked my to walk her through my resume. It went pretty well as I explained all the transitions and why I made those choices.

Next, she asked about my career goals and why a b-school education would help. She also asked about what my boss would think of me and then what would my colleagues would think of me.

I asked her a few questions and then she told me that they would let applicants know the decision by March 14. I thought the interview flowed very well with a few anectodes, she shared her personal background and said she "got" my story.

I had a good feeling, but her comments after the interview have me a little worried. Although she hasn't seen the rest of my application, she mentioned that Haas does have a high applicant pool of engineers and sometimes they waitlist Round1 applicants , so they can compare them with R2 applicants. Should I be waitlisted, I should feel free to call the admissions office and ask what else could be done to better my chances ( retake GMAT, etc ). She also mentioned that in the past, they called all applicants, but they're trying to move away from that and let applicants check their status online.

6. Berkeley/Haas Round 1 Interview Report (Intl location). (Published July 12th, 2007)

I had my Haas interview back in December 2006 with an international alumnus at his office. My interviewer graduated from Haas almost 5 year ago and after 3 years in venture capital now works as a senior executive for a major IT company.

He was the only interviewer who wanted to see a photo ID, but apart from that was very friendly and informal. In fact the interview was the most positive of my 5 MBA interviews and was a major factor in deciding to join Haas this fall.

He asked me to walk him through my resume and asked a number of clarifying questions. Also wanted to hear a lot about what I have learned from certain events.

Of course there was a "why Berkeley" question and we spent about 10 minutes discussing Haas and other business schools.

We concluded the interview by talking about Berkeley and the Bay area and my interview spent some minutes describing his MBA experience and giving advice on classes and projects to work on while at Haas.

I heard back from Haas at their regular round 1 decision deadline and was accepted. I was also accepted at Wharton and Insead (2 interviews) and dinged at Stanford. Heading to Berkeley soon and looking forward to two great years at Haas.

5. Berkeley/Haas Round 1 Interview Report (Intl location). (Published January 18th, 2007) (Posted by anon78)

I had an interview this morning with <Alum> at his office. He is a senior partner at Big consultancy. Alum was very friendly and the whole interview was conversational.

Half the interview was about him talking about his experiences, his motivations, his school decision, what to look out for at HAAS and his favorite classes and Profs. He also compared HAAS and its benefits and disadvantages to the other programs that I was applying to. This cleared a lot of questions that I had regarding the program and was planning to ask.

He asked me the following questions as part of the 50 minute chat:

  1. What are your career goals?
  2. Why I wanted to do an MBA from HAAS?
  3. Which other schools have I applied to?
  4. What challenges might I face in B-School?
  5. What my specific role and functions at <technology company> was?

We also discussed topics of interest to both of us such as the state of the <XX> industry, transition making for legacy technology companies etc.

I was initially a bit nervous as I hadn’t suited up in a long time (never worn one in my company in 6 years). But as I had a few mins to sit and relax before the interview, (got there 10 mins early) I was able to settle in. My interviewer ended by saying that he would “vouch for my candidacy at Berkeley” and that he hoped that I will choose Berkeley if I received an admit. All in all it was a positive feeling when I left the room.

I’m hoping this helps me make it to HAAS. Cheers.

4. Berkeley/Haas Round 2 Interview Report (Super Saturday). (Published March 11, 2006) (posted by Pupstar78)

I had my Haas interview yesterday during the school's 'Super Saturday' event for Round 2 applicants. Comprised of the interview, student & career panels, lunch, a tour and welcome/closing remarks by the admissions directors, the event was a 6 hour affair. Fortunately, my interview took place during the first two hours of the day, allowing me to enjoy the rest of the event free of pre-interview nerves.

A first year student conducted my interview. After some initial chit-chat, we got down to business. Her questions ran like this:

1. Walk me through your resume.

2. The admissions committee told me to ask you this: Why have your career goals changed? (I am a Haas reapplicant)

3. Discuss your leadership style. How do you lead?

4. Discuss a time when you were part of a group of peers and you failed to meet your objective. How did you deal with this?

5. What is it about Haas, specifically, that makes you want to attend this program?

6. If you are admitted to Haas, what attributes will you bring to the program? How will you contribute?

7. Do you have any questions for me?

Number 2 was somewhat of a surprise, given that I explained this change in my application (and that this was a blind interview). I assumed that the adcom wanted to ensure my interview response was consistent with my essays, so I kept the response as such, while providing additional detail about the broader 12-month process I had undertaken in determining the post-MBA field that 1.) I was most attracted to/passionate about, and 2.) would ideally leverage my existing experience.

After 30 minutes of providing answers, I had 15 minutes to ask my interviewer some questions of my own. This was great, because there were definitely some elements of the Haas program that I wanted to hear more about. Given the program's small size, I asked a several questions and follow-up questions about the process of on-campus recruiting vs. the process of working through the career center to pursue an employer not recruiting on-campus. I also inquired about academics, clubs and I asked my interviewer about her own goals and how she was structuring the Haas program to help her achieve these goals.

In parting, I should add that the depth of the Super Saturday program helped answer a lot of lingering questions I had about the program, especially in regards to career services and recruitment.

3. January 2006 Interview (Published January 2006)


My interview was scheduled at 1:30pm on campus - for 30 minutes. I reached the Admissions Office 20 mins early and checked myself in. Having visited Berkeley several times (especially to eat delicious Indian food), I didnt have any trouble finding the school. The partking lot mentioned in the invitation email was the one where I parked my car - about 10 mins uphill walk from the school building. The interview started exactly at 1:30pm The interviewer was a lady from AdCom. She had my resum and mentioned that she hadn't looked at my essays as yet. The interview was very straightforward as she asked just 2 questions. In the beginning of the interview she said that she will ask me just 2 questions - and I have 25 mins to answer those. Qs 1: Tell me something about yourself. (Walk thru your resume) Highlight one incident or thing from your academic, professional and personal life. Qs 2: What are your professional objectives? How does a Haas MBA fit in? Why do you want to do an MBA right now? The interview was over at 2pm exactly. The interviewer was quite friendly.

2. Haas Interview Report Round 1 (Published Fall 2005)

The interview started about 15 minutes late ( I had checked in 10 minutes before ) and interview lasted exactly 30 minutes as indicated in the email. The interviewer introduced herself ( just mentioned her name and thanked me for coming) and then proceeded to explain that she would like to leave some time at the end for questions, but mostly this is would be a one sided conversation. She mentioned that she had two/three questions that she wanted to ask in the 25 minutes or so we had. The two questions were - Just go through the resume, tell me about yourself and highlight some examples of leadership from the resume - What are your short term and long term goals

I was given some time at the end to ask any questions and they encouraged me to send any other questions via email. Overall, The interviewer ( who is a part of the adcom) was very professional and created a relaxing atmosphere for the interview.

1. Round 1 Interview Update: 12/17/2005

Here is a copy of the email that recently went out to Berkeley R1 applicants:

Thank you again for submitting your application for admission to the Berkeley MBA program. We are busy reviewing applications and preparing for the University's winter break, and we want to share some important information with you.

Next week, we will begin extending interview invitations to a small number of Round 1 applicants, and many more invitations will be sent in early January. Moreover, we will continue to send out invitations on a rolling basis through the end of January. Interviews are conducted by invitation only. Since we review the applications within each round in random order, there is no significance to the date on which you may receive an interview invitation. Round 1 applicants from the United States will be invited to interview on campus during our "Super Saturday" event on January 21st, and applicants outside the US will have the opportunity to interview with an alumni interviewer in their home countries. Round 2 applicants will receive interview invitations starting in February.

The last day for on-campus information sessions and class visits in the fall semester was December 9, 2005. Our daily on-campus Information Sessions resume the week of January 16th and our class visitation program and lunches with current MBA students will be available again the week of January 30th. If you wish to schedule a visit, detailed information is available here: http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/MBA/visitation.html.

Please note that the Full-time MBA Admissions Office will be closed for the winter break from December 24 through January 1, and will reopen on January 2, 2006. We will not be able to respond to voicemail or e-mail messages during that time.

Best wishes,

--- The Berkeley MBA Admissions Team

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