In order to put a cohesive application for Haas School of Business you need to have a clear understanding of your application strategy specifically your career goals and your strengths/weaknesses. Haas School of Business require you to answer six questions with the short answer having only 250 words space to complete your answer. It is quite challenging and you have to address a variety of accomplishments and attributes to create a comprehensive application.
Since the career goal question comes towards the end of the application, the AdCom wants to learn more about your personal story. Be consistent with your story and make sure that the career goals at the end is not a big surprise for the admissions committee. Your personality and experience should blend well with your career goals.
Short Answer:
1. What are you most passionate about? Why? (250 word maximum)
Similar to what matters most, and why, this question seeks to get at your core values. What do you wake up in the middle of the night thinking about? (You may want to keep a pencil by your bed to get your creative thoughts flowing!) What common threads have been woven throughout your life, whether altruistic, artistic or personal?
Whatever your passion is, make sure you can draw a conclusion about why you are passionate, and preferably you are able to weave your passion through this entire set of essays.
2. Tell us about your most significant accomplishment. (250 word maximum)
Your accomplishment can be big or small, but it should be significant to you. While you have limited space, this is an opportunity to demonstrate what matters to you and to showcase one of your proudest moments.
While you are asked only about the accomplishment, the best essays will use this limited space to demonstrate clearly what the accomplishment was (be specific!) as well as commenting upon the significance of the accomplishment.
3. At Haas, our distinctive culture is defined by four key principles — question the status quo; confidence without attitude; students always; and beyond yourself. Give an example of when you have demonstrated one of these principles. (250 words maximum, Review Berkeley-Haas’ Defining Principles)
This is an ideal place to demonstrate fit with Haas by focusing on the values of the Haas community. You are given the option to address several key attributes of the Haas Defining Principles and you will want to choose the attribute that both clearly demonstrates a strength for you, and has a clear supporting example you can cite. The situational question would like to see your values in action as part of the question. When approaching a situational essay like this it’s important to provide both a concrete example and to explain what you thought, felt and did during the situation.
4. There are many ways to learn about our program, what steps have you taken to learn about the Berkeley MBA? (250-word maximum)
This is another great opportunity to demonstrate your fit and enthusiasm for the Haas MBA program. Basic research will certainly include a visit to the website and perusal of the course catalog. To really demonstrate fit you will benefit from visiting campus, attending an informational session or connecting with alumni or current students. The personal touch is often the most helpful, and will give you an opportunity to really understand how you can personally be connected to the school.
Required Essays:
Give us an example of a situation in which you displayed leadership. (500 word maximum)
Both required essays are the same as they were last year. In this essay you will want to think about a specific leadership experience and what you did, said, felt and accomplished. Leadership can be expressed in many ways. Perhaps you lead a team of people at work, or in a volunteer capacity. If you do not have a formal leadership role you might have led a project or contributed as a strong leader from a team perspective. Whichever type of leadership experience you had, make sure to provide specifics of the situation. Strong results always stand out!
What are your post-MBA short-term and long-term career goals? How do your professional experiences relate to these goals? How will an MBA from Berkeley help you achieve these specific career goals? (1000 word maximum)
This is a fairly typical career goals essay that asks for both short- and long-term goals and the background that led you to this juncture in your career. This year it will be especially important to logically connect your background and your future, as schools will be looking for candidates who can be successful in a challenging job market.
Be specific about why Haas is the right program to pursue your goals as well. Make sure you have determined exactly what courses make sense for your career goals and the programs and clubs that you will participate in to reach your personal and professional goals.
Optional Essays:
(Optional) Please feel free to provide a statement concerning any information you would like to add to your application that you haven’t addressed elsewhere. (500 word maximum)
This optional essay can be used for any weakness you would like to address, or simply as an opportunity to end with some additional information that will help you stand out from the application pool. If there is an aspect of your background that was not illustrated in previous questions this can be a great opportunity.
If you have a weakness you would like to address here, focus on specifics. Describe what happened, why it is not representative of your potential, and provide specific examples of how you have performed better in your life since. Explanations and not excuses are always the best path.
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Question 1: What makes you feel alive when you are doing it, and why? (300 words maximum) (Video Essay)
Question 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)
Question 3: Distance Traveled: At Berkeley Haas, we consider "distance traveled" as the contextual information that helps us understand the unique circumstances, challenges, or influences that have shaped your personal and professional journey.
We invite you to share aspects of your background, personal circumstances, or significant experiences that have meaningfully impacted who you are today and how you've reached this point. Please tell us how these experiences have influenced your perspectives, decisions, and aspirations, and how they contribute to the person you are becoming. (300 words max)
About the Author
I am Atul Jose, Founding Consultant of F1GMAT, an MBA admissions consultancy that has worked with applicants since 2009.
For the past 15 years I have edited the application files of admits to the M7 programs: Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Wharton School, MIT Sloan, Chicago Booth, Kellogg School of Management, and Columbia Business School, together with admits to Berkeley Haas, Yale School of Management, NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, Duke Fuqua, Darden, Tuck, IMD, London Business School, INSEAD, SDA Bocconi, IESE Business School, HEC Paris, McCombs, and Tepper, plus other programs inside the global top 30.
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