<p>Can some current students (or people in the know) comment on the process of applying and being admitted to Haas? Furthermore, how is the life of a business major? I know it's "impacted" (still not totally sure as to what that means...) and obviously rigorous, but is it still possible to succeed if you work hard? </p>
<p>I'm an out of state student, and considering a couple other schools with good business schools as well. If I go to Cal, attending Haas is a major priority. Not that the University isn't fantastic on its own, but taking advantage of the prestigious business school is the major reason why I'd choose to pay out of state tuition for my education. </p>
<p>You may already know this, but the process works in the following way: for your first year and a half, you are “Pre-Haas” and will take the pre-requisites to be eligible to apply for the business major. You’ll find out in the spring of your sophomore year (assuming you have a graduation timetable for four years) if you get in or not and are officially part of the program, if you do get in, as a junior. That’s the official breakdown. A few things unofficially:</p>
<p>The “impacted” nature of the business major is only really felt by the fact that only certain people get into it; those who do get in almost never have any trouble whatsoever graduating in four years (Haas requires its students to graduate two years after entering the program anyway). I’m not sure if you mean whether or not it’s hard to get in or hard to do well in the school, but the process of getting in is somewhat difficult, but also rewarding: its difficulty is due to the fact that many of the pre-requisites aren’t rigorous, per se, but are curved in a way to create a distribution and thus the curves can be the hardest part (UGBA 10, the introduction to business class, being the notorious example). Also, it is important to be extremely active on campus (and over the summer after freshman year), particularly as a leader. While this requires an attitude that doesn’t settle for just coasting by in underclassmen life with just classes, it helps by incentivizing you to look for internships and other opportunities that help you get important internships/jobs as an upperclassmen. In Haas, the curves can be tough and the students are smart, but it is manageable, especially with careful class planning. </p>
<p>Ultimately, it depends on where you get in. I believe Haas is currently tied for 3rd (with Michigan, which also requires underclassmen to apply) as the best undergraduate business school, though that of course assumes you can get in. It also depends on what you want to specialize in within business and where you want to settle post-graduation (if you want to settle in SF or CA in general, Haas is just that much more helpful).</p>
<p>Elective classes are easier because the mean GPAs (i.e. the curve) mandated by Haas is more favorable for students relative to core classes. Since Haas offers classes that vary widely in score (quantitative in 102A/B, 103, 104; qualitative in 105, 106, 107), the nature of the courses and where the source of the grade is (reading, lectures, etc.) probably depends on such characteristics of the classes. That being said, Haas core classes do resemble UGBA 10 in terms of the competitiveness, and that is on top of the fact that most of the people in the core classes (as with the electives) are those in the UGBA 10 classes that actually got into Haas, which would suggest that the curves will be that much harder. Of course, part of it also depends on personal preference toward particular types of subjects within Haas (i.e. whether or you prefer accounting to marketing, ethics to organizational behavior, etc.).</p>
<p>The Michigan Ross undergrad program, which admits students at the sophomore level (in contrast to Berkeley Haas’s junior level admissions process), reserves ~100 seats - or about 25% of the entire undergraduate business student population - to the so-called “preferred-admissions” high school seniors provided that they meet several other requirements during their ‘gap’ UMich freshman year, the most exacting of which is to maintain a 3.3 GPA. Those requirements are not particularly strenuous, certainly by comparison to not only the regular Ross undergraduate admissions for which the average admittee had a 3.6 GPA but also the Berkeley Haas admittees who had an average 3.7 GPA. </p>
<p>Thank you for pointing that out Sakky. For the OP’s reference, I believe there is a more general Michigan/Berkeley thread comparing the two schools. In contrast to the details of Ross admission that Sakky pointed out, Haas doesn’t offer a comparable opportunity for admitted (to be “Pre-Haas”) high school seniors.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention that Michigan Ross preferred-admissions freshman GPA requirements are clearly in no way comparable to the average (non-preferred) admissions statistics. Specifically, as a Ross preferred-admit, as long as you maintain that 3.3 GPA and fulfill the course requirements, you are guaranteed a seat in the Ross undergrad program. In contrast, a regular applicant with a 3.6 GPA at UMich or 3.7 GPA at Berkeley is not guaranteed a seat. You might get it, you might not. The only way to even come close to a guarantee is to vastly exceed the qualifications of the average admitted applicant, and even if you do, there is still no absolute guarantee available.</p>
<p>As surely we can all agree, there’s a big difference between something that is 100% assured and something that is, say, only 99% assured. A 99% assurance means that you must make contingency plans in case that a 1% probability event were to happen.</p>
<p>The students I know who are at Haas were all telling me Haas isn’t as rigorous as some people put it out to be. People at Haas are studying (of course, just as what the students at Harvard do), but having a great time in the college, at the same time.</p>
<p>So what classes do you recomend to take as a freshman ? I was accepted as pre business but im not aure as to where or what to do now are we suppose to take certain classes or how do it work ?</p>
<p>You need to take all of the pre-requisites for the major and then you apply as a second-year (at least typically) and, if you get in, you can complete the remaining upper-division requirements as an upperclassmen. More detail of the process is on other recent threads. For your first semester, I’d probably take one or two business pre-requisites depending on how much and what type of AP/IB credit you have and then either breadth requirements and/or secondary major/minor pre-requisites to round out your semester class schedule.</p>
<p>I am a pre-med major, wanting to major in business. If I get accepted to the haas program, will I be able to take the necessary science courses to fulfill the med school requirements?</p>
<p>You should be able to fulfill both the pre-med requirements and major in business; I am aware of people who double-major in MCB (which I believe fulfills those requirements by default) and Haas. Keep in mind though that it may be difficult to do well in the pre-med requirements since there’s a lot of competition, and a large part of getting into Haas is based on your GPA.</p>