And, we’re off! The 2024-2025 MBA Admissions Season has begun!
Berkeley Haas has released updated application requirements and deadlines for their full-time MBA. It’s never too early to start thinking about your essay responses.
Round Application Deadline Decision Notification
Round 1 12 September 2024 12 December 2024
Round 2 09 January 2025 27 March 2025
Round 3 03 April 2025 08 May 2025
The Admissions Committee at Berkeley Haas seeks a holistic understanding of applicants, including “all aspects of a candidate’s character, qualifications, and experiences.” The school places a high value on putting together a diverse class that represents a wide array of industries and backgrounds.
All MBA programs look for applicants to demonstrate their abilities in innovation (critical, creative thinking and problem solving), leadership, and teamwork. In addition, Berkeley Haas defines four leadership principles you should pay particular attention to while brainstorming and writing. These include “Challenge the Status Quo,” “Confidence without Attitude,” “Students Always”, and “Beyond Yourself.”
Required Essay 1: What makes you feel alive when you are doing it, and why? (300 words maximum)
The Haas Admissions Committee asks this question to get a sense of who you are and what makes you tick. They want to better understand your passion(s) and what qualities and interest(s) you will bring to the program.
To get started, consider what “feeling most alive” means to you. Is it working towards something meaningful? Overcoming an obstacle? Entering a flow state? What experiences in your past have made time disappear? Then consider your interests, hobbies, work, and volunteer experiences. Keep in mind that the activity itself matters less than the joy and personal growth that has resulted from your experiences. So choose something you feel authentically passionate about rather than what you believe the Admissions Committee wants to hear.
Once you feel confident with what you want to write about, take a deep dive into one specific instance in the activity. Then explain the role of the activity in your life. What has it taught you about yourself, about others? How does your participation in the activity continue to inspire your growth?
Take a look at our writing process to help you craft a strong narrative.
Required Essay 2 (Updated): What are your short-term and long-term career goals, and how will an MBA from Haas help you achieve those goals? (300 words max)
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.
Although this question asks about your short- and long-term goals and how a Haas MBA will help you achieve them, you will want to anchor this essay in the past. Because what you’ve already done, learned, and achieved is far more important than what you haven’t—what you say you want to do in the future. To fully satisfy the objective of this prompt, go into your backstory and detail the key moments that influenced you and the formation of your goals. Your resume will provide an overview of your professional path to date, but this is your chance to provide a deep dive into your most pivotal experiences. Once the reader has taken this trip to your past, your proposed path forward and why Haas will be the perfect fit, will make much more sense.
See also: Anatomy of a Successful MBA Application: Show Meaningful Professional Experience
Required Essay 3 (Updated): 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?
Candidates seeking consideration for mission-aligned fellowships may use this space to reflect on their commitment to the mission of those fellowships. (300 words max)
Berkeley has updated this question from a short-answer response, last year, to a full essay this year.
This question prompts you to explore how you have and will continue to thrive in diverse environments. What have been your most meaningful experiences connecting with those unlike yourself? What have you learned? You should choose one or two anecdotes to anchor your response and explore how these instances impacted your perspective and reinforced your desire to promote a sense of community at Berkeley Haas and throughout your career.
Required Video Essay: The Berkeley MBA program develops leaders who embody our four Defining Leadership Principles. Briefly introduce yourself to the admissions committee, explain which leadership principle resonates most with you, and tell us how you have exemplified the principle in your personal or professional life. (Not to exceed 2 minutes.)
To start, familiarize yourself with the Haas Four Defining Leadership Principles. Which one resonates most with you? Why? Which of your personal and/or professional experiences will most compellingly show how you live one of these values in your daily life?
Create an outline of ideas and practice delivering your content aloud. You’ll want to include a brief introduction (~20 seconds), an explanation of why your chosen principle resonates with you (~45 seconds), a deep dive into a specific experience that shows how you live that principle (~45 seconds), and a brief conclusion (~10 seconds).
In addition to gauging your understanding of the Berkeley Haas’s culture, the Admissions Committee will also look to evaluate your communication skills and poise.
Tips for filming your video include:
Set the lights. Place a light in front of you so that your face is clearly visible on the screen (backlighting will result in shadows). You will be able to test your audio-visual connection before recording.
Dress professionally. Put your best foot forward by dressing professionally, similar to how you would dress for an in-person interview.
Prepare, but don’t script yourself. You’ll want the admissions committee to see the real you. Think strategically about the points you want to highlight in each video, but don’t memorize a script.
Note your pace. When nerves hit, people tend to speak too quickly. Practice delivering your response out loud, and ensure you can get through all of your points at a steady pace within two minutes.
Optional Information #1: We invite you to help us better understand the context of your opportunities and achievements.
The Haas Admissions Committee calls out its understanding that not all applicants have had the same opportunities and that they consider the context of an applicant’s environment when evaluating their experiences. They value those who display “maturity, perseverance, and thoughtfulness” in periods of hardship or difficult circumstances.
Use this space to provide any additional context that you would like the admissions committee to keep in mind while reviewing your application. Did you have responsibilities at home that required you to choose an undergraduate institution in your home town over a more prestigious choice farther away? Did you have caregiving responsibilities throughout your junior and senior years that made it difficult to maintain your GPA? Or an extenuating circumstance that impacted your ability to earn a promotion?
Do not exaggerate your circumstances, but do share any challenges that you’ve had to overcome in your academic and professional pursuits.
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.
This essay is for additional context around a weak spot in your application. Did you get a C in calculus? Or withdraw from your courses your sophomore year to help a family member? Do you feel that your lackluster GMAT score isn’t indicative of your abilities? Were you laid off?
If you are going to address a low grade in an analytical course or a low GMAT score, don’t make excuses. Spend the majority of your word count demonstrating your ability to excel in rigorous academic or professional environments by using specific examples. Provide information on similar classes in which you achieved excellent grades or give details about a professional pursuit that resulted in success. Similarly, to address an employment gap resulting from a layoff, explain the situation and then share the productive ways in which you filled your time during the gap.
If you are speaking to a more sensitive situation, perhaps a big mistake or legal issue that impacted your GPA, spend approximately 20 percent of your essay addressing the situation. Then use the remaining 80 percent on the actions you took to improve and what happened as a result. Again, do not make excuses. Simply address the situation, placing the emphasis on what you learned. Everyone makes mistakes. Taking accountability and moving forward demonstrates maturity.