While the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, has made it very clear that applicants need outstanding academics to get in, the program will not compromise its values to maintain its high stats. Haas’s four Defining Leadership Principles are taken very seriously by the school’s administration and admissions team. You will need to show that you share and live by those principles if you are to receive serious consideration as an candidate. The four principles are as follows:

1. Question the Status Quo
2. Confidence Without Attitude
3. Students Always
4. Beyond Yourself

Keep those principles very much at the forefront of your mind as you prepare your Haas application.

Ready to get to work on your Haas application? Read on. 

Haas application essay tips

This year, Haas has streamlined its essays a bit. Essay one has transitioned into a video essay, and there is one additional written essay.

Essay #1 – Video Essay

What makes you feel alive when you are doing it, and why? You will be able to test your audio-visual connection before recording. Video essays should last 1-2 minutes and may not exceed 2 minutes. You have two (2) attempts to record your video essay.

This essay question is not just an opportunity for the adcom to gain an authentic perspective of an activity that is important to you, it’s a key to unlocking a deeper understanding of your character and values. It’s a chance for you to share what motivates and energizes you, and why. Beyond what matters to you, this question seeks an answer to why the activity fills you with a sense of being on top of the world. There are no limitations on the areas of your life you can explore for your answer. However, considering the broader application, there are specific areas that serve to highlight your professional experience and academic achievements. This essay is your chance to showcase a side of yourself that might not be immediately apparent in your application, providing a more comprehensive view of your interests and motivations. 

Because this is a video essay, you will be able to convey your enthusiasm verbally. Describe how and why the activity has had an immense impact on you. You might, for example, explain how you feel when you save a life as a volunteer emergency medical technician – from the adrenaline rush of immediately arriving on the scene to the elation and relief you feel when you know your quick thinking and actions have saved a life, your gratitude for the training that provided you with the necessary tools, and the humility that renews your commitment to making a difference in this way. Alternatively, you could share your experience of leading a community effort to save stray dogs from certain death. For a dog lover, this activity is emotionally rich and deeply fulfilling. Driven by empathy, it might be sad, considering the extreme challenges a stray dog faces, but knowing your act of kindness and commitment to help such animals provides you with optimism for the life they have yet ahead. This fulfillment drives the cycle of advocating for stray animals and continued participation in these activities.

Aim to reveal important aspects of your character and values, and highlight the unique contribution you can make to the Haas community. The admissions reader will understand the difference you will make as a member of the next MBA class, bringing your unique perspective, experiences, and skills to enrich the community. 

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)

For its goals essay, Haas has clarified that applicants should consider their short-term goal as one they would achieve three to five years post-MBA. The position you desire immediately after graduation isn’t necessarily at play here. Thinking about the short-term goal differently than your post-MBA goal means that while considering what you want to do immediately after the MBA program, you must focus on the steps you’ll follow, in three to five years, toward your long-term goal. Of course, you want to discuss the industry and function in your answer, as well as the developmental milestones you will have achieved since graduation.

To write this essay well, you must first understand and share Haas’s four Defining Leadership Principles (as presented on the Haas website): 

• Question the Status Quo: We thrive at the epicenter of innovation. We make progress by speaking our minds even when it challenges convention. We lead by championing bold ideas and taking intelligent risks.
• Confidence Without Attitude: We make decisions based on evidence and analysis, giving us the confidence to act with humility. We foster collaboration by building a foundation of empathy, inclusion, and trust.
• Students Always: We are a community designed to support curiosity. We actively seek out diverse perspectives as part of our lifelong pursuit of personal and intellectual growth. There is always more to learn.
• Beyond Yourself: We shape our world by leading ethically and responsibly. As stewards of our enterprises, we take the longer view in our decisions and actions. This often means putting the collective good above our own interests.

For your essay, I recommend one of two approaches:

1. Start by describing your long-term goal, and then explain how your short-term goal (three to five years post-MBA), combined with a Haas MBA education, will help you achieve it once you gain a few years working toward your goals.

2. Start by describing your short-term goal (three to five years post-MBA) and build toward your long-term goal, explaining how a Haas MBA education would be the catalyst to achieve both goals.

With respect to your short-term goal, you must convey your understanding of a given career path – that is, how the role you take post-MBA will progress within the first few years to prepare you to achieve your short-term goal in three to five years. For your long-term goal, consider the significant problems you aim to solve using business tools and strategies. 

Regardless of how you start your essay, be sure to address how Haas’s four principles align with your goals. Because the school gives you room for only 300 words and you need to discuss how Haas’s resources will enable you to become a better leader, you can focus on just one or two principles. For example, you could explain how the program’s strong focus on entrepreneurship could help you launch your own business, or how its commitment to social impact could help your future company solve some of the world’s most challenging problems.

Also, explain how Berkeley Haas’s unique culture could help you develop into a better leader. For example, you might discuss how Haas’s emphasis on collaboration and teamwork could help you build stronger relationships with your colleagues, or how its commitment to diversity and inclusion could help you become a more inclusive leader.

Finally, summarize why Haas excites you most and how you will grow personally and professionally by earning an MBA from its program.

Supplemental Information

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)

This essay response will benefit from your taking time to reflect on your life and identify key experiences that have influenced your values and character. Each of us has a unique set of life experiences, and when we face challenges, we learn about ourselves and respond to given situations in different ways. 

Haas would like to learn more about how your life circumstances, challenges you have faced, and obstacles you have overcome have shaped who you are and influenced your approach to life. What motivates you? How did a particular situation influence how you see yourself and the actions you take? 

For example, were you raised in a single-parent household? If so, how did that influence your decisions later in life? Are you an immigrant or an international student whose parents arranged your marriage when you were just 2 years old? Have you had to work to help your family thrive since you were 10 years old? Are you a first-generation college student, and if so, what does it mean for your family to see you graduate from school? While these situations might have affected your grades or test scores, the key to this essay is demonstrating that despite your circumstances, you have beaten the odds.

If you have not faced obstacles in your life, describe your commitment to how you have made an impact within your community to benefit others. What was your motivation? How did your actions benefit others? Have you volunteered to help an organization install a playground to benefit the children in your local community? Do you support legislation that would benefit the elderly or those with disabilities? Are you active in an organization that educates children who can’t afford a formal education? As you answer this question, consider how your involvement has benefited others who may have experienced different life circumstances.

Optional Statement 

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. (300 words max)

Haas’s optional statement allows you to ensure that the adcom does not have to guess the reasons behind any of the following situations (or something similar):

• You had terrible grades in your first year at university. (Perhaps your parent became ill, and you flew back and forth to care for them, or you worked 30 hours a week to make ends meet.)
• You received a subpar GMAT or GRE score. (Maybe you are not a great test taker and can prove it with your inadequate ACT or SAT score alongside your 4.0 GPA. Or perhaps you were initially premed and realized after volunteering at a hospital that medicine is not your thing.)

One word of caution is to make sure your explanation doesn’t sound like an excuse. Own the situation, and discuss how you have rebounded from poor grades or can demonstrate how you will perform well in grad school courses, because you have taken additional coursework and received As.

Other Information

The information below details specifics about what applicants are to share as part of this section. When speaking about extracurricular and community involvement, think quality over quantity and provide those activities that you are passionate about and in which you were deeply involved. This information provides insights into how you might be involved when you join the Haas community. The admissions committee will evaluate both the depth and quality of your involvement and how you fit with the defining principles of the school.

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

• 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.
• 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.)

Haas application deadlines

	Application Deadline	Decision Notification
Round 1	September 11, 2025	December 11, 2025
Round 2	January 8, 2026	March 26, 2026
Round 3	March 31, 2026	May 7, 2026

Source: Berkeley Haas website

***Disclaimer: Information is subject to change. Please check with Berkeley Haas directly to verify its essay questions, instructions, and deadlines.***

Haas class profile

Here is a look at the UC Berkeley Haas MBA Class of 2026 (data taken from the Berkeley Haas website).

Class size: 295

U.S. minority: 51%

Underrepresented minority: 29%

Female: 42%

LGBTQ+: 19%

Veterans: 7%

Average years of work experience: 5.66

Middle 80% range of years of work experience: 3.2-8.5 

International: 38%

Countries represented: 35

Average undergraduate GPA: 3.65

Middle 80% range undergraduate GPA: 3.38-3.9

First-generation college: 15%

Undergraduate majors:

• Engineering: 25%
• Economics: 18%
• Business/Commerce: 13%
• Social Sciences: 12%
• Other: 9%
• Arts/Humanities: 7%
• Natural Sciences: 7%
• Computer Science 5%
• Finance: 4%
• Math/Physical Sciences: 4%

Median GMAT score: 730

Middle 80% range GMAT score: 690-750

Median GMAT Focus score: 660

Middle 80% range GMAT Focus score: 615-675

Median GRE Verbal score: 161

Middle 80% range GRE Verbal score: 155-168

Median GRE Quant score: 162

Middle 80% range GRE Quant score: 154-167

Pre-MBA industries:

• Consulting: 23%
• High Technology/Electronics: 21%
• Financial Services: 17%
• Other: 10%
• Not-for-Profit: 7%
• Health/Pharma/Biotech: 6%
• Military: 5%
• Energy: 4%
• Government 4%
• Consumer Products/Retail: 3%

As the former executive director of admissions at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School and assistant dean of admissions at Georgetown’s McDonough School and the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz School, Kelly Wilson has 23 years’ experience overseeing admissions committees and has reviewed more than 38,000 applications for the MBA and master’s programs in management of information systems, computational finance, business analytics, and product management. Want Kelly to help you get accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Related Resources

• Showcasing Leadership in Admissions, a free guide
• Four Tips for Displaying Teamwork in Your Application Essays
• Admissions Straight Talk Podcast for MBA Applicants