<p>Last year, when I applied to a wide variety of business schools, I was endlessly searching through the college confidential forums to see what I could dig up. Throughout the process I learned a few things that I hope will help you out about the whole process of applying and then choosing a school.</p>
<p>1) Take the admission process seriously. You only get one chance to impress and this means you literally need to "paint a picture" of yourself in your admission essay. A lot of the transfers into Haas took a couple of months to construct their admission essay. A quality essay is usually not something you can construct overnight and have as many QUALITY proofreaders read over it before you submit it. Make sure the readers are just as good or better writers than yourself and make sure they will give you constructive criticism.</p>
<p>2) Don't fall into the trap of joining every club on campus. There's just no way you can put 100% of your heart into every activity to pick and choose your favorites. Also note - my good friend and I at Haas compared our stats and neither one of us was involved in any campus clubs - although we were involved in other campus activities. From talking with other transfers it also seems work/military experience is a plus. Just note, it's truly best to be involved in what you love and are passionate about.</p>
<p>3) Once you get accepted GO VISIT THE CAMPUSES. I've lived in Los Angeles my entire life and picking between my two top choices of Marshall and Haas was tough. When I got accepted into Haas I thought hands down I was going to attend but after two visits to Berkeley I just didn't know if the place was for me. For those of you who have visited Berkeley you know what I am talking about.</p>
<p>4) Transcripts can be annoying and expensive. I had to send transcripts from three colleges/universities so just plan ahead and send them in advance allowing time to make sure they arrived. There's nothing worse than a transcript that got lost in the mail!</p>
<p>5) Know when you're going to hear back from the different schools you applied. I applied to a wide variety of schools and heard back at varying times. An example would be hearing from Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Since I heard back from these two schools before I heard back from Haas and Marshall I actually had to submit deposits to these schools in order to secure my spot (even though I didn't know if I was going to be attending). </p>
<p>As a side note, I am currently attending Haas but also attended Marshall's new student orientation so I am familiar with the program. </p>
<p>It's nearly 1 am and I'm tired so I'll end here. If you have any questions post them here so I can try to answer them. I'll try my best to periodically log on and answer them.</p>
<p>You transfered from a comm. college right? What was your gpa from comm. college and highschool? What classes did you take? How/Where did you resume build at during the summer? Did Haas require your High School transcript?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance i just started at comm. college and am looking to transfer to either haas or marshall. I have a friend currently at berk working to get into haas, heard its pretty tough.</p>
<p>I did transfer from a CCC. I believe all they accepted this year were from CCC. I know they didn’t accept any out of state. Seemed to be a lot of international students that transfered from CCCs…India - China - Europe - etc.</p>
<p>Spent 3 years at a CCC, completed over 100 units, and my final GPA was about 3.93 (I actually got two B’s my first semester and they were both in prerequisites). I did have 3 units from USC as well as 5 units from another CCC as well. My HS gpa was 3.66 and that’s including band and pe - (oh - I only had 1 ap course in HS and I never took the AP test for it).</p>
<p>The UC schools don’t require you submit a HS transcript or provide grades until after you are accepted. So, HS stuff doesn’t really matter in the process. Most private universities on the other hand do require the HS transcript (like USC although they say it doesn’t weigh as much in the process if you’ve completed over 30 units at your CCC).</p>
<p>Classes were required Haas courses and anything else I could take and guarantee an A in. It’s about GPA preservation while at your CCC - especially for Haas.</p>
<p>I worked for a political office for the previous 5 years, started my own online business, and sold material at conferences for a publishing house. I also talked about my other activities such as Boy Scouts (ex. Eagle Scout etc.).</p>
<p>You have to fill out an online resume so start thinking about how you are going to fill it up.</p>
<p>First off, I spent 3 years at a CCC because I thought I wanted to transfer to USC. In the middle of my second year I decided to change course a little bit and take the extra classes it would take in order for me to be eligible for Haas. Also, there were other courses that were required to get into other business schools throughout the country. I really wanted to apply in one big group to all the schools I wanted to go to and then go from there instead of spreading out my applications across 2 years.</p>
<p>Everyone wants to know “what should I have on my resume.” Honestly, from talking to the transfers that got in there’s no clear cut definition to that question. Get involved in what you love and show that on your resume instead of getting involved in something you don’t care about just because you think it will make the admission committee happy.</p>
<p>How important are ECs/resume? Officially the website states that it’s only worth 15% of the decision, but with the 6% acceptance rate for CC transfers, there are surely alot of 4.0 applicants that get rejected. So do you think it is better to focus on schoolwork and earn a 4.0 overall and try to finish in 2 years while participating in one or more business related clubs/organizations, or is it better to have a more modest 3.8 or so but have tons of stuff on the resume like clubs and stuff?</p>
<p>I’m not even going to attempt to say I know the answer to this question because I don’t. To be honest - all of the transfers I talked to have been in the HIGH 3.9’s or 4.0 and they had great/unique ECs. It’s obvious you need the grades (so I’d spend most of my time on that beacuse you know you need that) complement that with substance outside the classroom (and please refer to my previous posts on what I believe this substance means).</p>
<p>Also, the CCC transfer rate is misleading. A ton of the 4.0 students don’t have the pre-reqs. they need to transfer over and are rejected on the spot. Just picking the right courses to complete is the most important thing you can do - both Marshall and Haas undergrad administration are very nice people who are very willing to help you out. If you want, you can walk right into the Haas undergraduate room and ask them questions without an appointment.</p>
<p>So as long as I finish my prereqs and the 7 course breadth requirements and maintain my 4.0, will I have a decent shot at Haas? Can you chance me? I have currently taken 35 units so far last year, and this semester I am taking 24 units. I should maintain an overall 4.0 gpa throughout CC. I will have all prereqs/breadth completed by this semester except Calculus. Would that hurt my chances? I know that officially we can take prereqs in the spring, but I’m not too sure if in reality that that’s the case. ECs I haven’t done much besides being in the fiscal affairs council for my student government this year at my CC, a few summer jobs at Knott’s, some 200+ volunteer hours at Discovery science center (but this was during 10th-11th grade high school; does this count?). </p>
<p>And how hard was it to adjust to Berkeley-academic wise? Much harder than CC? I think you might have finished your financial/managerial accounting courses by now. </p>
<p>And does Haas accept recommendation letters at all? I called them and they said no. But I’m still curious if I send it to them, will they read it?</p>
<p>Im not sure where it was posted but I saw the stats for haas admits… of the 1400 that applied, 1000 were disqualified for prereqs or the seven course breadth, of the other 400 that qualified 100 were accepted… of that 100 that accepted 91 enrolled… also, 80% of the admits had a gpa between 3.74-4.0, I forget where the median was. its around the forum somewhere if you look hard enough you will probably find it.</p>
<p>so if you look at it that way 25% of people that applied and were qualified based on pre reqs and breadths alone got accepted, factor in your 4.0 and imo youve got a great shot.</p>
<p>hey is the UcBerkeley Breadth the same as the csu or is it different? and if it is were can i find the courses that need to be taken because i cant find it on there site</p>
<p>i guess i’ll have at least a 25% chance to get into haas. i wonder what the transfer rate is for qualified, 4.0 applicants. i hope it is over 50%. but i dont want to get my hopes up. it seems that haas places alot of weight on ECs. about 10 students were accepted with a gpa lower than 3.74 so haas must have been really impressed with ECs. </p>
<p>@jcsberger. i forgot to ask about the essays. you stated that many students worked on the essays months in advance. how did u get the essay prompts months in advance? for the regular UC app, don’t they release the questions on oct 1st (or did they just not change the prompt) ? and when does haas release the essay prompts for the january app?</p>
<p>They don’t accept recommendation letters (I wouldn’t send them). A few months after you submit your UC application you will get a Haas supplemental application. In this application they give you an extra essay topic and a few other things like a resume form you have to fill out online. I had high school stuff as well I wanted to add to it but both counselors I talked to said to only include college related activities so the 10-11th stuff prob. shouldn’t go on there. Not having your Calculus grade in the books might not hurt your chances but it wont help them.</p>
<p>Haas is challenging. It’s a step up from a CCC (and remember not all CCC are created equal in terms of how easy they are and are not so make sure to factor that in to your decision). I was intimidated when I got here because some of the classes are graded on the curve and you’re competing with some brillant kids.</p>
<p>I already took Financial/Mang. Acc. at my CCC and got very high As in both. You’re forced to retake both at Haas so I’m taking the class again and it just goes a little more in depth than my other class did (not much harder but I haven’t taken the midterm yet).</p>
<p>Keep in mind they are changing the req. for next years applicant pool (that means your req. are diff than mine last year). There might be alot more qualified app. or there might be alot less.</p>
<p>At the moment I have an internship at a small software company. I was wondering if it would be better for me since I actually get to do real accounting and market research, the company recently laid off a couple of people and I’m basically taking their jobs, rather than get an internship at a bigger name such as Merrill lynch whose interns I hear do little more than make phone calls and make coffee…at my current internship I’ve actually been given rather high level accounting access which I don’t think I’d be able to get somewhere else…but maybe I can? What do you think??</p>
<p>I’m going to start at de anza tomorrow and I got lucky with my internship lol, I was brainstorming of places to research for internships with a friend who later told his dad, who I am on good terms with, who then told his friend who happens to be the CEO of the software company I’m now interning for lol, otherwise I was just going to call a bunch of places and ask if they were offering any internships at the college freshman or sophomore level</p>