<p>I hear there are great opportunities for those in undergrad Haas interested in i-banking. Does anyone have information on this? The broad undergrad econ major option at Harvard makes me hesitant; curriculum-wise, I feel I could maintain a higher GPA at Haas, and I hear GPA is what matters most. Is Haas undergrad competitive enough to compete with a Harvard education, especially factoring in the 80k in tuition savings over 4 years?</p>
<p>if money considerations are your #1 concern, then certainly you have answered your own question.</p>
<p>as to whether Haas = Harvard, not even close...</p>
<p>this isn't just about which job you land straight out of college, this is the instituition that will be stapled to every resume you ever send out whether applying for grad school or competing for the executive / CEO corner office, 20 years on...</p>
<p>so, if you are have substantial financial constrains, then yes Haas is a fine school and should you maintain a high GPA, you will be in a decent position to compete for an i-banking spot... but if all things are absolutely equal (i.e. awards, GPA, coursework, etc.) and it's down to Haas vs. Harvard guy... then the Harvard grad wins that spot 9 out of 10 times...</p>
<p>
[quote]
or competing for the executive / CEO corner office, 20 years on...
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</p>
<p>From what I've seen, the prestige of your school matters definitely matters in getting your first job, and maybe for a few years beyond that. But no more than that. Beyond that point, the only thing that really matters is what you've accomplished after college. Practically nobody really cares what school you graduated from 20 years ago. What really matters is what you've been doing during those 20 years.</p>
<p>In my opinion, Cal is only a notch below Harvard academically. I'd say Harvard is clearly one of the top 5 universities in the US and Cal is definitely one of the top 10 universities in the nation. If the difference in the cost of attending Cal is 100K lower than the cost of attending Harvard, you'd be crazy not to go to Cal. I just don't think Harvard is 100K better than Cal. Think about it, for 100K, your parents could send another sibbling to university. Hell, for 100K, your parents could pay for your MBA or Law school degree someday.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I hear there are great opportunities for those in undergrad Haas interested in i-banking. Does anyone have information on this? The broad undergrad econ major option at Harvard makes me hesitant; curriculum-wise, I feel I could maintain a higher GPA at Haas, and I hear GPA is what matters most. Is Haas undergrad competitive enough to compete with a Harvard education, especially factoring in the 80k in tuition savings over 4 years?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I do have to question some of the premises in the OP's post.</p>
<p>First of all, the presumption is that the OP will actually get into Haas. This is far from assured. You apply to Haas at the end of your Berkeley sophomore year after taking all the Haas prereqs with no assurance that you will get in. About 40% of those who apply don't get in. And that's just talking about those who apply. Plenty of people don't even apply because they got such poor grades in their Haas prereqs that they know they have no chance in getting in. Hence, that means that the majority of incoming freshmen who came to Berkeley hoping to get into Haas do not make it. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/statsucb.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/statsucb.html</a>
<a href="http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/ucb_prereq.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/ucb_prereq.html</a></p>
<p>Secondly, I would strongly question whether you really would get a better GPA at Berkeley/Haas than at Harvard. I would suspect that, if anything, the reverse is probably true. The truth is that Berkeley is a grade deflated school. The Haas prereq courses are particularly grade deflated because Haas is using those courses not so much to teach students anything but primarily as a measuring stick to make their Haas admissions decisions. When you're talking about the GPA you will ultimately, it's not so much the curricula you ought to worry about, rather it's the GRADING of the curricula that ought to concern you.</p>
<p>I'll give you an example from the engineering side of the house. I know a guy who scored in the 80's on one of his engineering exams. That's pretty good right? After all, he demonstrated that he understood the vast majority of the material on the exam. The problem? The mean score on the test was a 95. Furthermore, the class was curved to a C+, meaning that everybody who got the mean score was getting a C+. What that meant is that that guy's test score was equivalent to a D, and close to an F. Seems cruelly unfair, doesn't it? After all, this guy demonstrated that he knew almost all of the material on the exam. But for the purposes of grading, that doesn't matter. What matters is not how much you know on an absolute scale, but rather how much you know RELATIVE to how much everybody else knows, as well as where the curve is set. You can possess an excellent understanding of the material and still fail. </p>
<p>Finally, I would argue that GPA is NOT what matters most. What matters most is your personality as demonstrated during the interview. GPA may help you to get an interview, but it's still up to you and your personality to punch the ball into the endzone. </p>
<p>For example, I know of a guy who got stellar grades getting dual-degrees in engineering and management from MIT. He didn't get a single banking offer. He got lots of banking interviews, but not a single banking offer. Why? Simple. By his own admission, he doesn't have smooth interview skills. He gets nervous during interviews. In fact, lately I heard him talking about how he should have been spending less time studying and more time working on his interview skills. </p>
<p>Now to be fair, it looks like he now prefers to go to a PhD program in business or finance instead of getting a banking job. I'm pretty sure he'll get in. So things will work out well for him. But the point is, who really cares if you get top grades if you can't get the job that you want?</p>
<p>Assuming I get into Cal, I'll be in a similar situation as the OP (expect I didn't get into Harvard, lol). Attending Haas would be fantastic, but there's no guaranteed admission. Come April, and you're admitted into Cal, and you think that you can maintain a high GPA 1st and 2nd year, then go for Haas if you want to. Saving 100k for some families, is almost, well, priceless. Plus, if want to work on the West Coast, then Haas would probably be a better bet than Harvard IMO.</p>
<p>assuming you get into and survive Haas with a good GPA, then i think the ibanking opportunities are up there with harvard. that's just from observation and from talking with friends. Haas is a top undergrad bschool, and it seems like many ibanks think that the top of berkeley's class (i.e. haas) is comparable to perhaps at least the bottom of an ivy class.</p>
<p>Harvard is world renown and in a majority poll, it is the best academic institution in the world. </p>
<p>If you have the chance to go, go.</p>
<p>Let me say that again ... IF YOU HAVE THE CHANCE, GO TO HARVARD.</p>
<p>The Haas School of Business is the world’s second best undergraduate business school with Wharton School of Business being the top. It is a very competitive program to get into and Haas can give so many opportunities that other top class universities such as Harvard and Stanford can provide. For instance, the list below shows some of the places that Berkeley Haas undergraduate students went to after graduation last year despite the recession:</p>
<ol>
<li>VISA Card</li>
<li>Wells Fargo Bank</li>
<li>Microsoft</li>
<li>McKinsey & Company</li>
<li>Goldman Sachs</li>
<li>JP Morgan Chase</li>
<li>Google</li>
<li>US Department of Treasury</li>
<li>Bank of America</li>
<li>Citibank</li>
</ol>
<p>Here is a list of some of the places that Harvard undergraduate students went to after graduation last year:</p>
<ol>
<li>International Monetary Fund</li>
<li>Federal Reserve Board</li>
<li>Nike</li>
<li>Accenture</li>
<li>IBM</li>
<li>Bain & Company</li>
<li>American Express</li>
<li>Oracle</li>
<li>Proctor & Gamble</li>
<li>US Department of State</li>
</ol>
<p>As you can see, students from both schools go to amazing places. It seems though that Harvard is more geared towards getting their graduates more successfully into government jobs and Berkeley Haas is more tuned into getting their graduates to corporations. Nevertheless, both schools exhibit tons of prestige. To claim that one school is better than the other by a large amount is not valid. Although Harvard as an overall institution does have the edge over Berkeley. However, it is important to remember though that Harvard is in a class of its own and no other school whether it’s MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, or Yale can overcome the ‘Harvard Premium.’</p>
<p>OP: you would get much better help if you posted this in the undergrad business degree forum, or the schools’ respective forums; this is for MBA questions</p>
<p>@sakky -The school you went to 20 years ago does matter. When schmoozing with other successful business people, it will probably be well known if you’re an alum of Harvard.</p>
<p>In the business world sports are commonly used to generate small talk and I find myself talking about UCLA sports a lot. I went to UCLA undergrad but if I had gone to Harvard I would find ways to name drop it throughout my career!</p>
<p>(Take my post with a grain of salt. I just graduated from UCLA in June and I’m 25 with little business world experience.)</p>