Berkeley / Haas MBA News

Get the latest MBA news from Berkeley / Haas.

Published: March 6, 2014

Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-Campus

I am currently an American living internationally, so my interview was abroad with a local alumnus who graduated about 11 years ago. It was in the middle of downtown at his office. He hadn’t done interviews for a few years and it kind of showed. He seemed like he had read my resume but didn’t have many questions prepared so it seemed a bit rambly. But, he was very polite and made me feel like he was on my side. 1. Why did you move abroad? 2. What accomplishment on your resume are you most proud of? Read more

Published: February 23, 2014

UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business to Host Business of Healthcare Conference

Students at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley are busy this week preparing for their 8th annual Business of Healthcare Conference, which will take place on February 28th. Planned and run entirely by students, the conference will feature a hands-on expo showcasing disruptive healthcare technologies, as well as top innovators and thought leaders in the field. Read more

Published: February 17, 2014

Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-Campus

My interview was very conversational and friendly. I didn’t stumble and remained positive and enthusiastic throughout. The questions were: 1) Where is your name from? Where did you grow up? Oh really? So are you watching the Olympics then? Hockey? Is that your sport? 2) Why don’t you run me through your resume. 3) So what does your company do? 4) Which business segment at your company would you say is the largest? Was it PE or VC funded? 5) So why are you pursuing an MBA? 6) Why Haas? 7) In your career at your company, could you give Read more

Published: February 16, 2014

Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumnus / Off-Campus

The alumnus was very flexible in finding a time that was convenient for both of us. We met at his office. After brief introductions and small talk, we started into the interview. It was all-around pretty casual, with no big curve-ball questions. There were none of the typical behavioral questions. Most questions focused on my motivation in pursuing an MBA. – Why do you want to get an MBA? – Have you considered whether your goals would be more likely achieved in continuing to gain experience in the industry? (I work in a fairly specialized field to which Read more

Published: February 9, 2014

UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business Beams with Pride as Janet Yellen Leads Federal Reserve

Janet Yellen took office as the 15th chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors last week, becoming the first woman in history to lead the nation’s central banking system and monetary policy. In so doing, the professor emeritus at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley has made her institution very proud. Her appointment represents a long tradition of faculty from the business school serving the federal government at the highest levels, the school notes. Yellen has said that she intends in her new role to prevent another financial crisis, hold down short-term interest rates until unemployment recovers and lead the normalization of monetary policy. She also plans to continue promoting transparency of Fed decisions to help the American people understand how those decisions affect them. Read more

Published: February 3, 2014

Berkeley-Haas Case Series Expands to Wider Audience via Harvard Business Publishing

Case studies from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business will now reach a wider audience of business professors, practitioners and policymakers – not to mention students and alumni – thanks to a new distribution agreement with Harvard Business Printing. Twenty cases from the Berkeley-Haas Case Series have already been added on the Harvard Business School Publishing website, including cases providing insights into Netflix’s pricing strategies, Genentech’s use of culture to drive business and a startup’s search for the right market for its new technology. Read more

Published: January 28, 2014

Entrepreneurship Opportunities at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business

Prospective MBA applicants interested in entrepreneurship will find a lot to explore at the University of California’s Haas School of Business, according to a recent article on the school’s MBA Admissions Blog. Dino Boukouris, president of the Haas MBA Student Association and a current second-year student, devoted a post early this week to the extensive opportunities he has found to pursue entrepreneurial interests, both inside the classroom and beyond. In terms of courses, UC Berkeley boasts more than 20 core classes taught by experienced entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and business executives, Boukouris writes. Many are offered through the school’s entrepreneurial program, which is headed by Toby Stuart, the Leo Helzel Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, who recently joined Haas from Harvard Business School. Boukouris notes that his favorite class to date has been Venture Capital and Private Equity, which is taught by three veterans of the VC industry: Terry Opendyk (Onset Ventures), Sean Foote (Labrador Ventures) and Jerry Engel (Monitor Ventures. “If you have ANY interest in Venture Capital or start-up financing, it’s a must take,” Boukouris urges. Read more

Published: December 23, 2013

Trivia Tuesday: The Berkeley MBA Leadership Development Series at Haas

Welcome to our weekly edition of Trivia Tuesday, in which we take an in-depth look at the specific offerings that differentiate the leading MBA programs from their peers. This week we’re taking a peak into the Clear Admit School Guide to the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business to share with you an excerpt about the Berkeley MBA Leadership Development Series. "As part of its BILD program (Berkeley Innovative Leader Development), Haas has implemented a series of on-campus events that offer students the opportunity to fine-tune their leadership skills outside of the classroom. The Berkeley MBA Leadership Development Series is comprised of a number of non-credit workshops and seminars, all of which allow students to gain further insight into three key areas of awareness: Self, Team and Organization. "Each of these areas of competency has its own focus and set of goals. Read more

Published: November 27, 2013

UC Berkeley Student Club Hosts Inaugural Entrepreneurship Week

The University of California at Berkeley welcomed dozens of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists last week as part of the inaugural Berkeley Entrepreneurship Week. Organized by Startup@Berkeley, an interdisciplinary campus club, the event was designed to help inspire students from throughout the university to pursue entrepreneurial careers. "We noticed there weren’t any campus groups at Berkeley that unified all the campus initiatives centered on entrepreneurship,” Startup@Berkeley Co-president Rachel Tsao, BA 15, said in a statement. “We wanted to create this event to bring everyone together," she continued. Read more

Published: November 5, 2013

UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business Launches New Institute for Business and Social Impact

The Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley today launched a new institute designed to increase the school’s efforts to help address critical challenges facing the world through creative business solutions. The new Institute for Business and Social Impact will be led by Professor Laura Tyson, an economist, policy maker and former Haas School dean, the school announced. “Our students are determined to make a difference in the world, but the answers are not simple or obvious,” Tyson said in a statement. “We will provide students with the tools and vision they need to design pathways to fulfilling careers so that they can help create a more prosperous, equitable, inclusive and sustainable society.” Read more

Published: October 28, 2013

UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business Launches New Mobile Learning Platform for EMBA Students

The Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley this week launched a new iPad-based mobile learning platform for students in its Berkeley MBA for Executives Program. Following a successful pilot program with technology partner EmpoweredU, Haas yesterday announced that it is rolling out the new mobile capabilities for all students in its EMBA program. “Our executive MBA program will be the first degree program to experience the benefits of this mobile learning experience,” Adam Berman, who heads the Haas School’s initiatives in learning technologies, said in a statement. “For senior professionals on the go, having this kind of technology means getting the most out of their MBA experience, using their time most efficiently and deepening their ties to their classmates.” Read more

Published: October 9, 2013

Long-Time UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Professor Nominated to Head Federal Reserve

President Barack Obama’s nomination of Janet Yellen yesterday to head the Federal Reserve Board of Governors sparked celebration at the University of California’s Haas School of Business, where she was a member of the faculty for 26 years. If confirmed, Yellen will succeed current Fed Chair Ben Bernanke, who will step down in January 2014. Yellen taught macroeconomics at Haas from 1980 to 2006 and was named a Berkeley Fellow earlier this year for her contributions to the school. While at Haas, Yellen’s research focused on unemployment and labor markets, monetary and fiscal policies and international trade and investment policy. In addition to her decades on the Haas faculty, Yellen has served as vice chair of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors since 2010, was president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco from 2004 through 2010 and also chaired President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers from 1997 to 1999. Read more

Published: September 22, 2013

UC Berkeley Haas School of Business to Offer New and Retooled Online Classes

Following its pilot last year of a range of new online courses for its MBA students, the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley is expanding its online offerings while also reworking some of the initial courses based on feedback from students and professors. One of the three pilots offered online last year was “Power and Politics,” a popular MBA course taught by Professor Cameron Anderson. This year, the course will be offered again, but with a revamped website and platform designed to be more intuitive to use. Faster download times are also expected to improve the student experience, allowing for conversation that “mimics the in-person experience as much as possible, with back-and-forth and even spontaneous interjections,” Anderson said as part of an article on the Haas website. He noted that he got to hear from many more people as part of the online version of the class, through online class discussions and chats. Read more

Published: September 10, 2013

UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business Opens New Innovation Lab

The Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley is home to a new 2,700-square-foot Innovation Lab where students can participate in more team-based and experiential learning, primarily as part of the school’s innovative leader curriculum. The new I-Lab, located inside Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium, was made possible thanks to a gift from alumnus Michael Gallagher, BS ‘67, MBA ‘68, former Haas Board chairman and retired CEO of Playtex Products. Haas Lecturer Clark Kellogg and Senior Lecturer Sara Beckman, who teach the school’s “Problem Finding Problem Solving” course, taught the first class in the new labratory space on Read more

Published: August 15, 2013

Students from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business Return from Summer Work around the Globe

More than 150 Haas MBA students will return to campus this fall having traveled the globe over the summer putting their business school skills to work addressing real-world challenges. China, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Kenya and Israel are just a handful of the countries that played host to Haas students as part of the school’s summer international business offerings. As part of the school’s global management consulting course, International Business Development (IDB), almost 100 students in the full-time MBA program traveled overseas. Full-time students spent three weeks working in-country with 25 different clients. Projects ranged from examining potential funding models for the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund to creating a strategy for an innovation lab in Nairobi to helping a Silicon Valley tech firm develop team performance and fan engagement solutions for football leagues in England and Germany. Read more

Published: August 8, 2013

UCLA Anderson School of Management Hosts Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders

UCLA Anderson School of Management last month hosted 50 top students from historically black and Hispanic-serving colleges and universities as part of a program designed to expose prospective future business school students to the principles of business development, entrepreneurship and management. The University of California Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders (UC SIEML) program rotates across six UC business schools, and participating students attend classes, workshops and networking events for two consecutive summers. Beyond the benefits provided to the students, the program also helps participating business schools connect with undergraduates before they graduate and head off in other directions. . “Take a look of other graduate degree programs,” says Linda Baldwin, Anderson assistant dean of diversity and 2013 UC SIEML director. “They have a pipeline from their undergraduate departments,” she said. “With the MBA program, there’s typically a break. The students get scattered.” Read more

Published: August 1, 2013

UC Berkeley’s Haas School Expands Evening & Weekend MBA Core Curriculum

Beginning in fall 2014, the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley will feature a revised core curriculum in its evening and weekend MBA program, the school announced this week. The changes, which include extending the core from two semesters to three and adding three new required courses, are designed to help students better learn and absorb the coursework. Jon Kaplan, executive director of the Haas evening and weekend MBA program, spearheaded the campaign to implement the curriculum update, and the Haas faculty approved the changes in May. Read more

Published: July 25, 2013

UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Dean Reappointed to Second Term

Rich Lyons, dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley since 2008, was reappointed last month for a second term by UC Berkeley’s provost and executive vice chancellor. Following his reappointment, which became effective July 1st, Lyons shared his vision for Haas’s future, specifically with regard to technology in education and the school’s work environment and global profile. Lyons wants Haas to be a “definer of what’s next at the confluence of technology and management education.” More than simply translating existing courses into digital format, he wants Haas to change the courses themselves and the way it thinks about pedagogy. "It’s about things like 'game-ifying' content to engage students even more fully, having courses that adapt in real time to individual students’ needs, and letting students 'test again' until they have truly mastered material,” he said in a statement. Read more

Published: July 18, 2013

Tuition Climbs at UM’s Ross School of Business, Remains Flat in UC System

Last month, the Board of Regents at the University of Michigan approved a $1,100 increase per term for its full-time MBA program at the Ross School of Business. The tuition increase, which will take effect in the fall, represents a 4.4 percent rise for in-state students and a 4 percent rise for out-of-state students. Meanwhile, the Board of Regents for the University of California system earlier this week approved a proposal that rules out tuition hikes for that system’s graduate business schools, at least for this year. As reported by Bloomberg BusinessWeek on June 21st, two members of the six-person board at the University of Michigan voted against the tuition hike. “The continued raising of tuition is not sustainable,” Regent Denise Ilitch said in a statement. “If we were as good at raising revenue streams as we are at raising tuition, our students would be far better off.” Read more

Published: June 23, 2013

UC Berkeley-Haas Graduates Enjoy Strong Employment Opportunities

Early employment data shows that MBA graduates from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley are landing top jobs and top salaries, the school reports. The firms hiring the most Haas graduates this year include McKinsey & Co., Google, JPMorgan, Kaiser and Amazon, and salaries and signing bonuses are continuing an upward climb. Other tip hiring firms include Deloitte Consulting, Samsung, Bain, Adobe, Microsoft and Zynga. But traditional MBA sectors are not the only ones seeing strong hiring, according to Lisa Feldman, executive director of the Career Management Group. “Real estate is a strong area for us this year, and we are also seeing a strong class of entrepreneurs,” she said in an article on the Haas website. “In addition to the entrepreneurs themselves, we have a growing number of students exploring the impact they might have in smaller organizations and seeking experience with early-stage startups,” she added. Read more

Published: June 19, 2013

UC Berkeley Haas Partners with MIT Sloan on Energy Efficiency Research Project

Researchers at the Haas School of Management at the University of California at Berkeley are teaming up with researchers at the MIT Sloan School of Management to take a closer look at energy-efficiency policies and regulations around the globe to determine whether they are realizing their full potential, the schools announced this week. The project, called E2e, is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the two schools designed to find the best way to go from using a large amount of energy (“E”) to a small of amount of energy (“e”). Participating experts will include engineers, economists and others, and the initiative is led by Catherine Wolfram, associate professor and co-director of the Energy Institute at Haas, Michael Greenstone, a professor of environmental economics at MIT, and Christopher Knittel, co-director of the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR). Read more

Published: June 11, 2013

UC Berkeley’s Haas School Awards New Hansoo Lee Fellowships to Two MBA Students

The Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley has awarded two inaugural $5,000 prizes as part of the Hansoo Lee Fellowship for Entrepreneurs, a new fund established to honor entrepreneur and alumnus Hansoo Lee, MBA ’10, who died in March of lung cancer. Romi Elan and Charlie Hughes, MBA students in the Class of 2014, were selected from 10 applicants for the fellowship for a photo app they designed to help friends connect around shared interests and hobbies. Called “Goalzy,” the app is intended to help small groups of friends encourage one another through pictures to pursue personal goals. Seeing pictures of their friends’ latest harvest, for example, could spur other friends to get their own hands in the dirt at the community garden. ““We wanted to help people keep true to their promises to themselves,” Elan said in a statement. Read more

Published: June 2, 2013

UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business Hires Two New Permanent Finance Professors

Two visiting finance professors have joined the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley as permanent faculty members, one from Kellogg and another from Chicago Booth, Haas announced last week. Professor Annette Vissing-Jørgensen, formerly a professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and Assistant ProfessorAdair Morse, formerly an associate professor at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, have been visiting faculty members at Haas since July 2012. Both are known for their insightful research and award-winning teaching, the school notes. Read more

Published: May 16, 2013

UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business Welcomes Inaugural Executive MBA Class

Members of the first class of the Berkeley MBA for Executives Program will take in majestic views of San Francisco Bay tonight while enjoying dinner and hearing from a Nobel Laureate, all part of orientation for the new 19-month program, which began on Wednesday. Haas launched the new program after reaching a mutual decision last year with Columbia Business School to end the joint Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA Program. Based in Berkeley, Haas’s new program will include three off-site blocks, one in Washington, DC, one in Shanghai and one in Silicon Valley. The school's Berkeley Innovative Leader Development (BILD) curriculum, introduced as part of the full-time MBA program in 2010, will serve as the basis for the new executive MBA program. Read more

Published: April 11, 2013

UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business Spotlights Student Startups

An MBA student at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business made the case for why business school can be an ideal place for entrepreneurs to get startups off the ground as part of an article in Forbes this week. At the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley many students have the same idea, and in acknowledgement the school has launched a new series to spotlight student ventures. Andre Marquis, executive director of the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship, underscored how valuable time at Haas can be for budding entrepreneurs. “The best way to create entrepreneurial leaders is to give them the experience of building startups while they are here,” he said in the latest issue of BerkeleyHaas magazine. Read more

Berkeley / Haas

Class Size: 295

Women: 42%

MEdiAN GMAT: 730

MEAN GPA: 3.65

Livewire Decisionwire Interview Reports Essay Topic Analysis MBA Admissions Deadlines View Full Profile

MBA Applywire

December 21, 2024 12:13pm ET

Applying: Dartmouth / Tuck, Northwestern / Kellogg, UPenn / Wharton, UT Austin / McCombs, UVA / Darden

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Military/Corporate Logistics

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting Companies: Bain , BCG , McKinsey

GRE: 302

GPA: 3.63

Years of Work Experience: 9

Notes:

Submitting for R2, but retaking GRE after application deadline. Military Vet with Corporate experience.

December 20, 2024 5:17pm ET

Applying: Columbia, Duke / Fuqua, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Northwestern / Kellogg, Stanford GSB, U. Chicago Booth, UPenn / Wharton

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Healthcare

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting Companies: Bain , BCG

GRE: 332

GPA: 3.5

Years of Work Experience: 3

Location: Florida

Post MBA Location: Consulting

Notes:

25F, lgbtq, 3 years as a registered nurse. also have started working for an early stage VC in the past several months.

December 19, 2024 4:44pm ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Stanford GSB

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Insurance

Post-MBA Target Industry: Entrepreneurship

GRE: 318

GPA: 3.59

Years of Work Experience: 3.5

Location: Georgia

Post MBA Location: Southeast

Notes:

Looking to launch a tech startup post MBA, without any background in tech. Come from a quant heavy background and undergraduate coursework. I regularly attended admissions events, in person and online at my schools. I hope that focusing energy on my few top schools and spending a lot of time on essays will help me overcome the less than average test score (164 quant 154 verbal) and GPA.

Serial entrepreneur with a history of profitable small businesses. Was promoted twice in 3.5 years. Involved in many extracurricular activities in and outside of work. My background is very centered around financial services/insurance, is this a red flag for a pivot to Tech Entrepreneurship?

Transferred between two state schools in the southeast. School I graduated from is a top 25 undergrad business program. Obtained a few professionals designations post grad.

December 18, 2024 11:38am ET

Applying: Michigan / Ross, UNC Kenan-Flagler, Vanderbilt / Owen

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Held various positions in Finance and Accounting in a healthcare institution

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Other Companies: BCG , Deloitte , Other

GPA: 3.0

Years of Work Experience: 11

Location: International

Notes:

I am passionate about healthcare enhancing patient quality care. So exploring in that field is what I would love. Got a 72k scholarship from Vandy and named Forte Fellow. UNC 50k. I'm having a hard time deciding though my heart is leaning towards Owen

December 18, 2024 10:23am ET

Applying: Arizona State / W.P. Carey, Indiana / Kelley, Ohio State / Fisher

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Facility management

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting

GRE: 309

GPA: 2.8

Years of Work Experience: 3

Notes:

Graduate GPA -3.869

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MBA LiveWire

December 21, 2024 8:37am ET

Accepted to Duke / Fuqua

Round: Round 1

Received via phone on December 11, 2024

GMAT: 675

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Consulting

December 21, 2024 2:38am ET

Waitlisted at Duke / Fuqua

Round: Round 1

Received via phone on December 10, 2024

GPA: 3.27

GMAT: 760

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Finance

Application Location: CA

December 20, 2024 11:16pm ET

Accepted to Babson / Olin

Round: Round 1

Received via email on December 17, 2024

GPA: 3.9

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Consulting

Application Location: South Asia

December 20, 2024 7:50pm ET

Accepted to Columbia

Round: Round 1

Received via portal on December 10, 2024

GMAT: 750

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Application Location: India

Note:

$100k scholarship

December 20, 2024 3:21pm ET

Accepted to Yale SOM

Round: Round 1

Received via email December 20, 2024

GPA: 4.0

GMAT: 750

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Note:

100% scholarship

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