<p>Any current students in Haas - What makes it so good/great/amazing?
I'm not looking to hear about rankings, but what does Haas offer and provide that makes you happy that you're in Haas? I've always wondered about this and I'm concerned with how it's only a 2 year program.</p>
<p>Also, is the school theoretical or more hands-on/practical? (How does it prepare you for a job?) I would think it's more of a theoretical approach, which I'm not sure I want. Do you do any kind of "senior projects" or anything of that sort (besides internships/jobs) that prepare you for work after you graduate?</p>
<p>I'm currently debating between going to Berkeley (pre-business) or Cal Poly SLO. It might sound kind of crazy, but I really like the hands-on/practical approach as well as the four years of business curriculum CPSLO has to offer. I don't know if I can find that by going to Berkeley (obviously not the 4 year curriculum part).</p>
<p>In a nutshell, what are the reasons one should go to Berkeley and try to enter Haas (besides the fact that it is Berkeley, rankings, etc.)?</p>
<p>Your main reason for going to Berkeley is because you are deciding between Cal Poly and Berkeley. Seriously, this has to be the dumbest question ever. </p>
<p>If you actually knew anything about business you would know that:</p>
<p>a) Your degree matters less than where you got it from. An African Studies degree from Berkeley would probably help you succeed more in business than Cal Poly.</p>
<p>b) Business and Tech are very well connected. Obviously Berkeley is a very good school for technology.</p>
Okay, I think that is a tad bit of an overstatement. Your Berkeley liberal arts degree will obviously NOT take you as far as a serious major from a CalState. </p>
<p>The only reason people even take those degrees are:
a) They’re too incompetent to major in anything else
b) They want to artificially inflate their GPA for Law or Business school</p>
<p>Your major is very important and your assertion that it doesn’t matter just flat out defies all reality. You’re not going to make more than an Engineer with your African Studies major regardless of where you got it from!</p>
<p>EDIT: Might I add that SLO isn’t even that bad of a university. It’s a common alternative to UC Irvine, Davis, or Santa Barbara and it has been named one of the top Master’s awarding universities for many consecutive years. The only reason its lowly ranked is because the UC system, particularly Berkeley, has been suppressing the CalState system and all other California higher education for decades!</p>
<p>This is a blatant example of elitism gone too far.</p>
<p>No, it’s true. Prestige matters the most in business. Think about it; Harvard and the other ivies don’t have business school but that’s where most of the ibanking jobs are at. Why? Prestige. </p>
<p>It’s hard to imagine such a bias world right now but that’s how it is in real life.</p>
<p>the only and most important reason that matters: you have access to good jobs. more often than not employers specifically pick out business majors to interview. sure you can be a great EECS student and get interviews but those are exceptions. it doesn’t guarantee you any job, but it does give you a better shot at prestige whoring jobs.</p>
<p>None of you even answered my question… you all just focused on Berkeley’s prestige which is NOT what I’m looking for. I know prestige matters in business, but I want to know the actual learning environment Haas offers and what the education consists of. If I’m spending this much money on my education, I want it to be worth while and not only because of prestige.</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO has many recruiters even though it’s in the middle of nowhere. The big 4 accounting firms come out during career fairs and they have speakers from their companies to talk at the different club organizations. There’s no reason to trash a school without knowing anything about it. It’s also ranked #11 for Recruiter server rank, which is 4 spots higher than Berkeley.</p>
<p>Rankings systems put significantly more value on research universities than teaching universities. The UC is a research institution, the CSU is a teaching institution. Also CSUs are not allowed to give out doctorates, so the fact that SLO gives out lots of masters degrees doesn’t mean much. This has nothing to do with Berkeley, please stop spouting bullcrap.</p>
<p>You clearly don’t know how getting hired in business works highschooler. No projects or crap that you do in school can really prepare you for real-world work. What you do learn is the work ethic and process of getting things done. Besides any monkey can do the entry level work in your business job, no special training needed.</p>
<p>You seem like big 4 material, just go to SLO.</p>
<p>I tend to agree with Firapira. From what I’ve heard, the things you learn in college don’t matter too much in the business world; you learn hands-on and you either have what it takes or you don’t. No amount of education or knowledge in high level math etc will change that. What matters is the brand name, that you were good enough to get into Haas is an indicator of your skills. But you should go to San Luis Obispo if it will make you feel better that you’re learning things with your money.</p>
<p>
Sorry, the business world is elitism. One of the reasons why ivy leaguers dominate wall street and keep recruiting from those name-brand schools.</p>
No, this has everything to do with Berkeley. The CalStates want to award doctorates (and some do award professional degrees with the help of an outside university). Why do you think CalState can’t award doctorates? It is because of UC lobbying! The UC system even effectively prolonged their ability to award Master’s till the 60s. CalPoly had to stand and watch as peer universities such as ASU developed while they lagged behind. I could literally make a long list of nasty things Cal has done to stay on top over the years whether its controlling the affairs of others UCs such as UCLA to preventing the development of any competing public universities such as CalTech.</p>
<p>
</a> The numbers are quite vague but they certainly imply that a SLO Business Major is better off than a Cal African Studies major. While not as likely to go to grad school, their employment rates are significantly higher.</p>
<p>The statistics seem to imply a SLO Business Major has a higher median and average salary than one at Haas but the guys at SLO have significant non-response. This may be due to a more passive career center. Berkeley’s career data seems to be more comprehensive than most other universities.</p>
<p>From the Career data, assertions that Haas is much better than SLO is rather unfounded. Rather, they support that same majors from different universities earn around the same amount regardless of where the degree was awarded from.</p>
<p>Of course a business degree from SLO opens up more career prospects than a “<insert word=”“> Studies” from Berkeley. I know graduates from SLO or SJSU making over $80K, which is probably more than the average Harvard grad is making (MIT’s average was something like $60K) and certainly more than the great majority of students in obscure majors will make.</insert></p>
<p>Your major can play a major (pun intended) role in getting job opportunities. So can the name of your school. But to say that a school’s name completely overshadows your major is naive. Would an engineering firm hire a Yale art history graduate? Probably not. But I do know they hold SLO engineers in high regard.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to say that your major is everything or that you should pick a major because you’ll make money (incidentally, I believe the people who do it because they enjoy it end up better off =P), but it’s naive to say that going to Berkeley or going to Harvard means you’ll be successful. It’s what you do at these places that matters most, not what others who made these schools famous did.</p>
<p>@bsd: well of course an African Studies major at Cal won’t get an engineering job… We were strictly talking about business jobs, in which the African Studies major can still obtain.</p>
<p>@OP: I’m going to answer your original question then.</p>
<p>The business school at Haas is real life applicable. In fact, most business schools are applied to real life. You learn how to work financial statements which are a necessary tool for high end business jobs. Most of the classes deal with current issues and use examples that are happening right now. In my UGBA class we mostly discuss things that recently happened or are currently affecting us.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that Cal Poly SLO is more hands-on than Haas, they would be about the same “hands-on.” The difference is that Cal Poly SLO will be four years of learning about business versus 2 years in Haas; however, really, there isn’t THAT much to learn in business. But, it’s up to you to decide if you want a four year dose of full business or if you want to be taking some liberal arts stuff before going into business.</p>