<p>Could anyone that is currently in Haas or has been in it please tell me the kind of workload one would expect. Are there alot of group projects and presentations? Is it overly difficult?</p>
<p>I am not in Haas, but I have heard it is not hard once you are admitted into the business program.</p>
<p>I presume you are talking about the undergraduate Haas program, not any of the graduate programs.</p>
<p>It is true that once you get into Haas, it probably isn't tremendously difficult. But ay- there's the rub. You first gotta get in. And getting in is tremendously difficult. Haas only accepts junior-level students. And only half of Berkeley students who apply to Haas (hence, they are Berkeley students finishing their sophomore year) actually get in. And that understates the difficulty of getting admitted, because a lot of students come to Berkeley intending to get into Haas - but then get such bad grades that they know they have no chance of getting in, so they don't bother to apply.</p>
<p>I am currently a Haas senior and I can definitely give you my own personal perspective of Haas. The workload itself is not particularly difficult; it is the ranking system and curve that makes it hard. I once gotten a 94% on an exam, problem is the mean was a 97% so I had to settle for a B+. Most classes are curved up so you cannot rely on the curve to help you. </p>
<p>Once you are in Haas though, you pretty much have earned the right to get at least a B+ which is generally the Haas mean. There are 9 required upper division Haas classes that everyone has to take including: business communication, financial accounting, cost accounting, intermediate micro & macro economics, corporate finance, organizational behavior, marketing, & business ethics. </p>
<p>In response to the workload you were asking about, you can expect to turn in problem sets every week. There will also be a chapter or two reading for each class as well a mini/full case write up. Everyone is expected to be literate in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint. If you don't know this stuff by now, there are plenty of workshops that are available to teach you. Presentations and group work are the norm here.</p>
<p>My final piece of advice is to make as many friends as quickly as possible. Not only will you be able to form groups easier, you can also share old exams and such. This is necessary to compete against other business students who are members of various business fraternities who regularly share test files.</p>
<p>thanks for the useful info mowie. Would you say it's hard to get by those prereqs for haas? And what is the acceptance rate? How many kids apply and how many are accepted? </p>
<p>And, how do you like Berkeley overall? =)</p>
<p>mowie, for undergrad, do u suggest any clubs i should join to look determined for business? any certain EC's?</p>
<p>I am currently a senior at high school and taking 2 business classes at the local community college. I'm signing up for another 3 during the summer. Also taking Macro/Micro AP tests. I really want to get into a good business grad school and i will do ANYTHING!!! (well, almost) Then, a business summer program from my fresh to soph year in college cuz i need to earn the money to go first.</p>
<p>Am I on the right track?</p>
<p>The prerequisites for Haas is pretty demanding and can be found here: <a href="http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/ucb_prereq.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/ucb_prereq.html</a>. The statisitics for admitted students can be found here: <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/statstransfer.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/statstransfer.html</a>. </p>
<p>I took an untraditional route when I applied to Haas. I started my own business selling furniture while putting myself through school. There are many different paths that one can take to get an admission offer to the Haas school. Some of my friends enrolled in upper division business classes during the summers and was able to pull As. It is pretty hard to turn down an applicant who has taken half of the major requirements classes and is getting As in all of them. </p>
<p>Most people go the formulaic route and join numerous clubs and/or business fraternity. It used to be an advantage if you were a Delta Sigma Pi applicant because the former director of admissions is an alumnus. This is no longer the case since she has moved on. My advice here is to get some work experience.</p>
<p>My final advice is to do anything you can to get an edge and that will make you stand out as an applicant. My friend even paid someone to help him write his personal essay. I dont know whether this helped him or not, but it did not definitely hurt him and he was admitted with a rather low GPA (around 3.1).</p>
<p>just to let you know mba programs aren't really all that great. they're mainly a waste of time if you are planning on learning the material. biz school is only useful for one thing: business relationships. if you already have the relationships and the idea, there's no need to get an mba.</p>
<p>Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say that business relationships are the only thing that MBA programs are useful for. I agree that relationships are one of the key reasons to go, and actually learning the material is not a particularly important reason. However, I would argue that switching into other industries, particularly consulting and banking, are another main reason to go.</p>
<p>Case in point. I know a guy who just served for over a decade in the Navy as a fighter pilot. Now he wants to get into investment banking. How exactly is he supposed to do that? Can he just show up at their door and ask for an interview? I don't think so. So he's getting his MBA at a top 5 school, because that is one of the tried-and-true ways to get into banking, especially if you have no previous experience in the field. How else is he supposed to get into the industry?</p>
<p>A friend of mine graduated from Haas approx. a year ago. He said the workload wasn't that difficult but as was mentioned the curve made it very competitive. He said he found himself making trips to nearby bars quite often and was able to maintain a social life pretty easily. If you're application is still out and curious if you'll be accepted he transfered to Haas from Las Postias Community College in Livermore with ~3.7GPA, no extracurricular activities or employment. Not sure if they took into account his high school but he was ~4.0 in high school and I don't know his SAT scores. Lots of AP classes in high school as well. If you have any specific questions I can ask them for you.</p>
<p>I applied to Berkeley for mechanical engineering but I am planning to go into business eventually. Would it make more sense to graduate with an engineering degree and then apply for business school to get an MBA, or to apply as a junior undergraduate? I am also probably going to get a master's degree in engineering</p>