The Leading Independent
Resource for Top-tier MBA
Candidates
Home » Blog » Admissions Tips » Research Tips » Thinking About Berkeley Haas for Your MBA? Here’s Why You Should

Thinking About Berkeley Haas for Your MBA? Here’s Why You Should

Image for Thinking About Berkeley Haas for Your MBA? Here’s Why You Should

Sponsored Content

U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business ranked #7 by the U.S. News & World Report and The Economist, #9 by Forbes, and #10 by the Financial Times. It reaches these high rankings thanks to the school’s academic rigor, exceptional faculty, and business ecosystem.

The School offers multiple MBA programs including:

  • Full-Time MBA: This 21-month program helps students build a fluency in business fundamentals that inform confident leadership decisions.
  • Evening & Weekend MBA: This part-time MBA program offers working professionals the opportunity to earn their degree as quickly or as slowly as they need while staying up-to-date in their profession.

    Liz Rosenberg, the Senior Associate Director of Full-Time MBA Admissions at U.C. Berkeley

Outside of its offerings and rankings, why should you choose Berkeley Haas for your MBA program? Liz Rosenberg, the Senior Associate Director of Full-Time MBA Admissions, discusses the qualities that make a Haas MBA stand out.

1. What sets your campus culture apart from others? What type of MBA applicants would best be suited to your culture?

At Berkeley Haas, we stand for our distinctive culture. Haas students self-selected Berkeley’s Four Defining Leadership Principles because they treasure humility, curiosity, ethics, authenticity, and academic rigor. Our culture inspires a different kind of leader—one driven by the desire to perennially learn and innovate and one whose mission extends far beyond his or her own career path.

2. What are the top industries your MBA graduates enter, and how does your program work to develop relationships in those industries for the best career opportunities?

Given our location and proximity to Silicon Valley, a large percentage of our graduates enter the Technology field; but, keep in mind, that “tech” as an industry is ever-expanding and now encompasses companies like Twitter, Facebook, and Amazon—not just the traditional IT or telecom firms. Other industries favored by recent grads include Consulting, Financial Services, Healthcare, and CPG.

From the moment you start at Berkeley Haas, our small class size and extensive career resources allow us to meet you where you are and partner with you to get you where you’re going. Our Career Management Group will work with each student to design a highly personalized path toward achieving your goal of meaningful and rewarding work. Our team of more than 40 experts, including Career Coaches, Relationship Managers, Industry Specialists, and Peer Advisors, are dedicated to helping you connect to the company, industry or location that excites you.

Beyond our Career Management resources, you’ll be taught by path-breaking researchers and industry experts. Student-led clubs and affinity groups will connect you with others who share your passions. And a global network of classmates and alumni will support and challenge you for life. So, whether your goal is social impact or entrepreneurship, clean tech or real estate, we have the resources you’ll need to get you where you want to go.

3. What geographies do most of the MBA’s who enter your program come from?

Our students come to Haas from 39 different countries across the globe. While the majority call the U.S. home, 42 percent are international passport holders. Within the U.S., we get the most students from the West Coast and from the larger metropolitan areas across the country, namely New York and Washington D.C. Internationally, the greatest number of our students hail from China, India, and the United Kingdom.

4. In regards to the student experience, what sets your program apart?

The new economic marketplace demands new thinking from business leaders. At Berkeley Haas, it is our mission to produce leaders who excel not only at the core business skills of critical thinking, communication, and adaptability, but also who deliver strategic, operational, and organizational innovation. Through a curriculum focused on Leadership Development, you will learn how to inspire others and make sound business decisions that reflect an awareness of the impact on real people.

Experiential Learning has been an integral part of the Berkeley Haas MBA experience for more than 25 years. You’ll have the opportunity to choose from nearly 20 Applied Innovation courses, allowing you to work on team projects that range from corporate innovation initiatives with major firms to global consulting work. In addition to the perspective you’ll gain from relationships with classmates from nearly 40 countries, our Global MBA Learning Opportunities will expand your worldview, both in the classroom and on the ground in locations around the world.

By choosing to study at Berkeley Haas, you’re choosing to be at the heart of the new economy. The San Francisco Bay Area is home to companies that are redefining industries and driving global economic growth like Apple, Google, and Airbnb.

With only 300 students enrolled in our entering class, we are the smallest of any top full-time MBA program. This allows us to deliver highly personalized career services. Our Career Management Group can partner with you to identify your professional goals and help you make the connections that makes reaching them possible. In addition to your close-knit community of classmates whose collaborative outlooks inspire support of each other’s career pursuits, you will also gain access to the Berkeley Haas alumni network and nearly half a million alumni of the University of California at Berkeley.

UC Berkeley Haas wasn’t the only school to answer these questions. If you’d like to see what the admissions teams at Cornell Johnson, Duke Fuqua, Michigan Ross, NYU Stern, UVA Darden, and Yale SOM had to say, head here.