Haas School of Business – University of California, Berkeley
Haas School of Business is one of 14 schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley and is located on the eastern side of Berkeley’s campus. In addition to its full-time MBA program, Haas offers an Executive MBA program and an Evening and Weekend MBA program. Haas’s MBA curriculum is centered on Berkeley Innovative Leadership Development, an approach to business education that emphasizes experiential learning and problem-solving in order to help students become innovative leaders. Haas also helps students shape their education by offering students the chance to design courses in conjunction with a faculty member.
FAQ
What is the tuition for Haas’s MBA program?
The tuition for Haas’s MBA program is $76,788 for California residents and $85,406 for non-residents for the 2025-2026 academic year. Haas estimates that with additional expenses such as living expenses and textbooks, students will pay up to $121,410 as residents or $133,655 as non-residents.
How hard is it to get into Haas’s MBA program?
The acceptance rate for Haas is 23% It is important to consider the acceptance rate in the context of the student profile of those who are admitted. For example the median GMAT (10th edition) score is 730.
What is the average GMAT score for admission to Haas’s MBA program?
The median GMAT score for the incoming class at Haas is 730. The GMAT middle 80% range is 669 to 767. For the GMAT Focus, the median score was 675 and the middle 80% range was 637 to 725.
Does the Haas MBA program accept the GRE?
Yes. The Haas MBA program has accepted the GRE for a few years now.
What is the average GRE score for admission to Haas’s MBA program?
The median GRE scores for the incoming class at Haas is 161 Verbal, 162 Quant.
What is the minimum number of years of work experience required for admission to Haas’s MBA program?
Haas does not state a minimum requirement for years of work experience. However, it is important for candidates to be aware that they are being considered against other candidates with an average of 5.66 years of experience.
What is the average number of years of work experience for admission to Haas’s MBA program? (or, What is the average age of a Haas MBA student?)
The average number of years of work experience among students in Haas’s MBA program is 5.6.
What is the average starting salary for graduates of the Haas MBA program?
The average starting salary for Haas MBA graduates is $159,412. The salary will vary by industry, with consulting and finance jobs generally commanding the higher salaries.
How long is Haas’s full-time MBA program?
Haas offers a traditional 2 year MBA program.
What are the application deadlines for Haas’s MBA program?
The Round 1 MBA application deadline is September 11, 2025. The Round 2 application deadline is January 8, 2026. The Round 3 deadline is March 31, 2026.
What percent of Haas MBA students are women?
The percentage of the class at Haas that are women is 43%.
What type of interview does Haas use for MBA admissions?
Haas offers interviews by invitation. The interviews are resume-based. This means the interviewer has not had access to the application materials.
When does Berkeley Haas release MBA interview invites for Round 1?
The first 2025-2026 Round 1 interview invite from Berkeley Haas was reported on LiveWire on September 24, 2025. The prior year, Round 1 invitations continued to roll out through November.
When does Berkeley Haas release MBA interview invites for Round 2?
The first 2024-2025 Round 2 interview invite from Berkeley Haas was reported on LiveWire on January 9, 2025. Invitations continued to be reported through the end of March.
When does Berkeley Haas release MBA decisions?
For Round 1, Berkeley Haas posts a decision date of December 11, 2025. For Round 2, Berkeley Haas posts a decision date of March 26, 2026. For Round 3, Berkeley Haas posts a decision date of May 7, 2026.
Admissions
The Class Profile
273 students enrolled at Berkeley Haas for the MBA Class of 2027. First-year Haas MBA students landed a median GMAT (10th edition) score of 730 with the middle 80% of scores ranging from 669 to 767. For those who took the GMAT (Focus), the median score landed at 675 and the middle 80% of scores ranged from 637 to 725. Those who took the GRE reported median scores of 161 Verbal and 162 Quant.
The average undergraduate GPA for the group was 3.675. In regards to their undergraduate studies, engineering and economics each claim 17% of the Class of 2027. Another 15% had majored in business/commerce, and 13% majored in social sciences. The group had an average of 5.6 years of work experience. Twenty-four percent had a background in consulting and 20% worked in financial services before joining Haas. High tech/electronics covers 21%.
Forty-four percent of first-year MBA candidates are international. The group represents 42 countries. Women comprise 43% of the Class of 2027. Finally, 52% of U.S. citizens and permanent residents identify as members of a U.S. minority group, which comprises students of African American, Hispanic American, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Asian American and East Indian/Pakistani heritage. Twenty-six percent of U.S. citizens and permanent residents identify as underrepresented minorities.
Application Procedures
Applicants can elect to apply to Haas during one of three admissions rounds, which usually occur in September, January and March. Haas requires applicants to submit their completed online application along with a résumé, essays, GMAT or GRE and TOEFL or IELTS scores from students who received degrees from countries whose official language is not English, transcripts from all collegiate and post-collegiate academic institutions attended, a $250 application fee, and two professional letters of recommendation. Interviews are conducted on an invitation-only basis and are required for admission to the MBA program.
Application Requirements
The following materials are required to apply for the Berkeley Haas MBA:
- Online application
- $250 application fee
- Current resume (submitted online)
- Admissions essays
- Two professional letters of recommendation
- University transcripts
- GMAT or GRE score report
- English language proficiency if applicable (TOEFL/IELTS)
- Interview
Essay Topic Analysis
Recommendation Questions
Berkeley / Haas Q&A's
Berkeley / Haas LiveWire and DecisionWire
Academics
Faculty
Haas employs 74 tenure-track faculty members. These scholars and practitioners help lead Haas’s 16 research centers, which cover topics ranging from entrepreneurship, healthcare, equity and more. The Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation, for example, enables faculty to publish articles, create teaching materials and lead research projects on “open innovation,” a more dispersed industry innovation model.
Curriculum
Professors at Haas make use of a variety of teaching methods, including case studies, seminars, simulations, group projects and guest speakers. Haas places an emphasis on hands-on learning, with certain courses providing students the opportunity to gain consulting experience by working in Silicon Valley firms.
Haas operates on a two-semester schedule, with MBA classes running from late August through early December and from mid-January through May; commencement takes place shortly thereafter. For first-year students, each semester is further divided into two quarters. Within the academic year, all students have short breaks for Thanksgiving and other holidays, as well as a one-month break between the fall and spring semesters.
During the first year, Haas students are required to take 11 core courses, which account for 20 of the 51 semester units needed to graduate. The core covers foundational business principles in accounting, finance, economics, marketing, operations, strategy, leadership, decision-making and management. Each of the required courses places an emphasis on team learning, with students working in small groups on projects and assignments. A core course may be waived if a student passes a waiver examination. These examinations are akin to the course’s final examination and are given the week before the start of each semester. To replace units from waiving a course, students can either take an additional elective or an upper-division UC Berkeley course outside of Haas. All students must also fulfill an experiential learning, or “applied innovation” requirement by completing at least one of almost 20 programs. These include working in small teams on projects for both nonprofit and for-profit organizations, as well as developing socially responsible strategies for large corporations.
MBA students may begin taking elective courses in the spring semester of their first year. Haas provides a broad range of elective courses from which to choose, and students may take courses at other Berkeley graduate schools or even design their own courses together with members of the faculty. The school emphasizes hands-on learning and offers nearly 20 courses to satisfy the Applied Innovation requirement, ranging from international consulting projects to people development to strategies surrounding sustainable business practices. Haas also provides students with 11 Areas of Emphasis, which are high-level recommendations of courses, extracurricular activities and summer internships that students can follow to prepare for entry into related careers.
Other MBA Degree Options
In addition to the 21-month full-time MBA program, Haas offers a four-year JD/MBA program with either UC Berkeley’s School of Law or UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. Also available are an MBA/MPH program with the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, an MBA/MCS with the Rausser College of Natural Resources, and an MBA/MA program in Global Studies with various UC Berkeley Schools. Part-time options include an evening and weekend MBA program. Additionally, Berkeley offers a 22-month Executive MBA program.
Areas of Emphasis at Haas
- Finance
- Marketing
- Strategy & Consulting
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Energy and Clean Technology
- Entrepreneurship
- Health Management
- Social Sector Leadership
- Real Estate
- Sustainable & Impact Finance
- Technology
Degree Options at Haas
Full-time MBA
http://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/
Concurrent Degrees
JD/MBA, MBA/MA, MBA/MEng, MBA/MCS
http://haas.berkeley.edu/MBA/academics/concurrent-degrees.html
MBA/MPH
https://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/careers/healthcare
MBA for Executives
http://mbaforexecs.haas.berkeley.edu/
Evening & Weekend MBA
http://ewmba.haas.berkeley.edu/
Applied Innovation Courses
- Haas@Work
- Social Sector Solutions
- International Business Development
- Cleantech to Market
- Strategic and Sustainable Business Solutions
- Design Sprint for Corporate Innovation
- Design, Evaluate and Scale Development Technologies
- People Development
- Real Estate Investment Analysis
- Hedge Fund Strategies
- Haas Sustainable Investment Fund
- Managing the New Product Development Process
- Lean Transfer
- Food Innovation Studio
- Product Management
- Product Design
- Lean Launchpad
- Social Lean Launchpad
- Corporate Launchpad
- The Startup Lab
- Equity Fluent Leadership: The Value of Inclusion & Diversity
- Impact and Climate Investing Practicum
- Climate Solutions Fund
Campus Life
Clubs, Conferences & Competitions
Haas offers its students many opportunities for extracurricular involvement, including over 50 student organizations to choose from, with a wide array of professional, athletic and cultural groups on hand. Many MBA students become involved in Challenge for Charity events such as competitions, shows and auctions geared at raising money for the Special Olympics and other charitable organizations. In addition, a large portion of MBA students volunteer their time to the Boost@Haas program, where they act as mentors for underprivileged high school students.
A number of conferences are hosted annually by Haas faculty and students. These comprise both industry- and affiliation-related events, such as the Berkeley Energy Institute’s POWER Conference and Women in Leadership Conference. Haas also sponsors the Play: Media and Entertainment Conference, the UC Berkeley LAUNCH Startup Accelerator, and the Latin American Business Forum. Furthermore, MBA students have the opportunity to create their own competitions.
Campus Spaces
Designed by architect Charles Moore, Haas’s campus is comprised of three buildings—one each for classrooms, student services and faculty—linked together that face a main courtyard. Among the school’s facilities are a career center, a high-tech computer lab, a café and an economics and business library.
While most Haas students choose to live off campus, a fair number of students take advantage of Haas’s on-campus housing options. These include university residence halls as well as several apartment complexes devoted to housing UC Berkeley graduate students. The university also provides the UC Berkely Housing office, through which students can receive counseling about their housing options. Students who wish to live off campus can refer to UC Berkely Off-Campus Rental Services for a listing of off-campus rental opportunities.
MBA Careers
Career Services
The Haas Career Management Group provides extensive support for MBA students by hosting on-campus interviews, corporate presentations and electronic job postings through CMG Bears. The Career Management Group also offers students informal ways to meet employers year-round through career panels, alumni mixers, industry firm nights, job fairs and corporate visits. In addition, individual career advisors are available to aid students in developing their job search skills and tackling the recruiting process. Full-time recruiting for second-year students takes places in the fall and spring semesters starting in late September, and internship recruiting for first-year students occurs in the spring starting in late January.
Career Statistics
The mean base annual salary of 2024 Haas graduates was $159,412 with an average signing bonus of $34,740. Of the 255 Haas MBA graduates, 207 (81%) reported seeking post-MBA employment. 86% of graduates looking for work secured offers within three months and 84% accepted an offer. The entrepreneurial spirit was high at Haas as 35% of the class opted to work for private companies/startups, and another 3.5 percent of graduates ventured into starting their own businesses.
A quarter of the Class of 20234 found jobs in the consulting industry after graduating. The next most chosen industry was technology at 24.3% of the class, and 16% of students accepted positions in financial services. Nearly 8% of students entered the healthcare industry.
78% of graduates settled in the West U.S. after graduation. The Northeast claimed just over 9% of graduates. 3.5% pursued post-MBA roles in Asia.
Financing
The tuition for Haas’s MBA program is $76,788 for California residents and $85,406 for non-residents for the 2025-2026 academic year. Haas estimates that with additional expenses such as living expenses and textbooks, students will pay up to $121,410 as residents or $133,655 as non-residents. Haas offers both merit- and need-based scholarships to help students with the program’s cost. While most merit-based scholarships are awarded to applicants at the time of admission, others require the completion of separate applications. Both two-year and one-year scholarships are available, and Haas requires that the recipients of two-year grants maintain at least a 3.0 GPA throughout business school. Students also have an array of loan options at their disposal, including federal loan offerings for U.S. citizens and permanent residents. In addition, Haas publishes a compiled list of preferred lenders with different loan options for students to consider. For international students, a risk-share loan is available that does not require a U.S. co-signer.
Cost of Attendance
Tuition & Fees
- CA Resident $76,788
- Non-Resident $89,033
Health Insurance $7,848
Housing & Food $29,008
Books & Supplies $752
Transportation $3,768
Personal Expenses $3,246
Totals:
CA Resident $121,410
Non-Resident $133,655
Recent News
Contact
Full-Time MBA Admissions
Haas School of Business University of California, Berkeley
545 Student Services #1900 (Mail Address)
2220 Piedmont Avenue (Delivery Address)
Berkeley, CA 94720-1902
Phone: 510-642-1405
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.haas.berkeley.edu
Blog: http://blogs.haas.berkeley.edu/the-berkeley-mba
X (Twitter): @BerkeleyHaas