Haas MBA Deadlines:
Round 1: 12 September, 2024
Round 2: 9 January, 2025
Round 3: 3 April, 2025
Haas MBA Essays for 2024-2025
Our distinctive culture is defined by four key principles – Question the Status Quo, Confidence Without Attitude, Students Always, and Beyond Yourself. We encourage you to reflect on your experiences, values, and passions so that you may craft thoughtful and authentic responses that demonstrate your fit with our program – culturally, academically, and professionally.
Required Essay 1:
What makes you feel alive when you are doing it, and why? (300 words max)
Required Essay 2:
What are your short-term and long-term career goals, and how will an MBA from Haas help you achieve those goals? (Short-term career goals should be achievable within 3-5 years post-MBA, whereas long-term goals may span a decade or more and encompass broader professional aspirations.) (300 words max)
Required Essay 3:
One of our goals at Berkeley Haas is to develop leaders who value diversity and to create an inclusive environment in which people from different ethnicities, genders, lived experiences, and national origins feel welcomed and supported.
Describe any experience or exposure you have in the area of diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging whether through community organizations, personal, or in the workplace? (300 words max)
Candidates seeking consideration for mission-aligned fellowships may use this space to reflect on their commitment to the mission of those fellowships.
VIDEO ESSAY:
The Berkeley MBA program develops leaders who embody our four Defining Leadership Principles. Briefly introduce yourself to the admissions committee, explain which Defining Leadership Principle resonates most with you, and tell us how you have exemplified the principle in your personal or professional life. Video essays should last 1-2 minutes and may not exceed 2 minutes.
OPTIONAL ESSAYS
Some applicants may have faced hardships or unusual life circumstances, and we will consider the maturity, perseverance, and thoughtfulness with which they have responded to and/or overcome them.
Optional Information #1
We invite you to help us better understand the context of your opportunities and achievements.
Optional Information #2
This section should only be used to convey relevant information not addressed elsewhere in your application. This may include explanation of employment gaps, academic aberrations, supplemental coursework, etc. You are encouraged to use bullet points where appropriate.
Supplemental Information
If you have not provided a letter of recommendation from your current supervisor, please explain. If not applicable, enter N/A.
1. List, in order of importance, significant community and professional organizations and extracurricular activities in which you have been involved during or after university studies. Include the following information for each using the format below:
Name of organization or activity
Nature of organization or activity
Size of organization
Dates of involvement
Offices held
Average number of hours spent per week
2. List full-time and part-time jobs held during undergraduate or graduate studies indicating the employer, job title, employment dates, location, and the number of hours worked per week for each position held prior to the completion of your degree.
3. If you have ever been subject to academic discipline, placed on probation, suspended, or required to withdraw from any college or university, please explain. If not, please enter N/A. (An affirmative response to this question does not automatically disqualify you from admission.)
Other application Information:
Resume :
Upload a one page resume in a standard business format. A second page may be used if you have extensive business or research experience. A PDF document is preferred.
Letters of Recommendations:
Require two letters of recommendations and prefer atleast one from a current employer/ current supervisor. If you are not getting a recommendation from a current supervisor, explain why in the supplemental section.
Following are the Recommendation questions:
- Please provide a brief description of your interaction with the applicant and, if applicable, the applicant’s role in your organization. (upto 500 words)
- How does the applicant’s performance compare to that of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? Please provide specific examples. (E.g. what are the applicant’s principal strengths?) (upto 500 words)
- Describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant’s response. (upto 500 words)
- (Optional) Is there anything else we should know?
Interview:
Interviews are by invitation only. These take place on campus an in cities around the world.
Reapplications:
Reapplicants are expected to submit a new application, along with new essays and preferable new recommendations (atleast one, if not both).
Also, the HAAS program recommends that you submit a statement outlining how you have improved your candidacy since your last application, as the Admissions Committee will be looking for substantive change in your qualifications. You can use the optional essay question to provide this information.
TOEFL: International applicants should remember that TOEFL is necessary to take if the primary official language of your country is not English.