UPDATE-  TIPS FOR THE 2009 HAAS MBA APPLICATION ARE NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE- Please Post Questions or Comments To The New Post- 

Haas 2008 Deadlines

 Round:     Submission:          Decision Date:

One    November 5, 2007     January 28, 2008
Two    December 11, 2007     March 17, 2008
Three    January 30, 2008     April 28, 2008
Four    March 12, 2008          May 19, 2008

Haas has made some minor changes to its questions this year, but the overall structure and most of the questions are identical to last year's. My comments are in red.

Haas Fall 2008 MBA Essay Questions

Listed below are the supplemental questions, short answer questions, required essays, and optional essays that you will need to provide when completing the fall 2008 application.

Supplemental Questions:

1.  If you have not provided a letter of recommendation from your current supervisor, please explain; otherwise, enter N/A.

Keep it short and sweet. This is primarily for those of you who don't want to tell your boss yet that you intend to leave.

2. List in order of importance all community & professional organizations and extracurricular activities in which you have been involved during or after university studies. Indicate the nature of the activity or organization, dates of involvement, offices held, & average number of hours spent per month.

Whenever possible, quantify your impact or contribution. 

3. 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.

4. Please explain all gaps in your employment since earning your university degree.

Provide the explanation, but again, be succinct. If you were laid off for three months as part of a restructuring, say so. No harm, no foul. If the layoff was much longer, try to also indicate how you spent your time, other than job-searching. Community involvement or extra-curricular activity, if true, would be great to mention here.

5. Please identify the course(s) you have taken or intend to take to demonstrate quantitative proficiency. Provide the course name, date, grade if any, and institution at which the course was or will be taken. If you wish, you may discuss other ways in which you have demonstrated strong quantitative abilities.

This is particularly important if you are a "poet." Clearly Haas expects you to prepare quantitatively for b-school. You engineers should have an easy time providing the requested information.

6.  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.)

Please, please, please don't "forget" to respond to this question if it applies to you. It's far worse to forget, than to answer it.

Short Answer:

1. If you could have dinner with one individual in the past, present, or future, who would it be and why? (250 word maximum)

Just as with Chicago's #2, the adcom is trying to get to know you here. This could be a great context in which to discuss a non-professional interest or hobby of yours. And as is so often the case, the "why" is much more important than the "who."

2. Tell us about your most significant accomplishment. (250 word maximum

You don't have a lot of room here. Describe it. Show your impact through a succinct use of numbers. Given the length restriction for this very important essay, a PAR approach could work well.

3.  At Haas, we value innovation and creativity. Describe an innovative solution you have created to address a specific challenge. (250 word maximum)

This is one more example of how schools' essay questions are great indicators of school values (and what they want to know). Creativity and innovation. When have you looked at a situation or problem and seen it in entirely new light, from a different angle than you had seen it before or others had seen it? That's creativity. When have you created something new and different. It's OK to build on the work of others, but have you take an idea or concept farther than anyone around you or applied it in an innovative way?

4. What steps have you taken to learn about the Berkeley MBA program, and what factors have influenced your decision to apply? (250 word maximum)

This essay should complement the required essay 2 (below) and is slightly changed from last year. Have you done your homework about Haas? If you live in California, you should really make the effort to visit Haas if you want your application to be taken seriously. Haas is very proud of its community and wants to know that you want to be a part of it, not something else. If you reside far from the West Coast, you can learn about Haas in other ways: Their publications, communicating with current students, blogs, info sessions, and receptions.

Required Essays:

1. Give us an example of a situation in which you displayed leadership. (500 word maximum)

The wording is slightly changed from last year, but not the substance. This question reflects a common b-school value: leadership. Schools want to see it because employers want to see it. Leadership is going to come up again and again. When have others followed you? When have you taken initiative and persuaded others to go in your footsteps? Discuss the impact you had, the challenges you faced, how you overcame them, and what you learned

2. What are your short-term and long-term career goals? How do your professional experiences relate to these goals? Why do you want an MBA from Berkeley at this point in your career? (1000 word maximum)

Standard goals question. How do your goals flow from your professional experience? What are you short-term and long-term goals? How will the Haas MBA at this point in time  help you achieve your goals.

Optional Essays:

1. (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)

A bonus!  If there is some facet of your experience, be it professional, academic or personal, that you have not discussed elsewhere and would like the adcom to know about, include it here. Give them another reason to admit you, but don't submit the grand summary, appeal, or closing statement. Keep it focused and cogent. Obviously, you could use this essay to explain a weakness, but that would leave your application ending on a weakness, which is less than optimal. Try to fit the explanation in somewhere else in the app or if necessary tuck the weakness into this  essay, but have the main focus of this essay be something positive.  An Example: Your pride in working your way through undergrad, the challenges, and the ultimate satisfaction of learning to manage your time.  This essay will explain a slightly less than stellar GPA; it won't justify a 2.0.

2.  (Optional) If you wish to be considered for the Haas Achievement Award (for individuals who have achieved success in spite of significant economic, educational, health-related and/or other obstacles), please use this space to address the obstacles you have overcome. (750 word maximum)

Include enough description of the obstacle so the reader understands its magnitude, but then focus on how well you have overcome and achieved despite the challenge.

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