University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business

The Berkeley Haas MBA: What You Need To Know

Founded in 1898, the Haas School of Business is the second-oldest business school in the United States. The insider’s joke is that Berkeley’s Haas School is the business school for hippies, but the truth is, that’s never been true, and it’s a silly way to refer to one of the hardest schools in the world to get into.

For a prospective MBA interested in innovation, entrepreneurship, inclusion, and sustainability, Berkeley is one of the best places to be. Their location in the San Francisco Bay Area also puts them at the epicenter of the innovation and entrepreneurial companies.

The highly selective 2-year program has over 500 MBAs enrolled at any given time and is anchored by 14 required courses in the core curriculum built on one another to foster essential analytical and leadership skills, including marketing, finance, and accounting.

The full-time MBA program recently introduced a revised core curriculum, which includes new courses in Data Analytics, Presenting with Data, and Business Communication in Diverse Work Environments. Each of these reflects input from students, faculty, and hiring organizations about critical skill sets for leadership success.

The Data Analytics core course aims to ensure that all students coming through the program have a foundation in analytics, the Presenting with Data course builds on the Leadership Communications course and helps develop the ability to effectively communicate with data, and the Business Communication in Diverse Work Environments prepares students to increase diversity and inclusion in the modern workplace.

The first year of the program is divided into four quarters and beyond the core, students have the freedom to tailor the majority of their MBA to achieve their career goals. In addition, full-time MBA students also have the option to enroll in several dual degree programs, including an MBA/MPH (Public Health), MBA/MEng (Engineering), MBA/JD (law), as well as earn a Michaels Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Business or a Certificate in Business Analytics.

There is no lack of co-curricular opportunities at Haas, with over 40 student-led organizations at Haas surrounding marketing, finance, tech, startups, outdoor adventure, etc. Not surprisingly the Haas Finance Club, which serves students interested in corporate finance, asset management, and investment banking, is as popular as the Consulting and the Tech Club.

Affinity organizations such as the LatinX Club, Black Business Students Association (BBSA), Latin American/Hispanic Business Association, Asian-Americans@Haas and Asia Business Club provide space to explore inclusion, along with the Women in Leadership (WIL) and Q@Haas (LGBTQ+), both of which were founded more than 25 years ago when such organizations were rare at US business schools.

Haas students also have several opportunities to interact with other grad students across campus through organizations such as BERC, the student-run Berkeley Energy & Resources Collaborative, and Startup@BerkeleyLaw, which hosts legal workshops for entrepreneurs.

“Berkeley Haas is far and away the best business school for preparing people to work in organizations and careers geared toward social impact. It offers everything from coursework to extracurriculars to the best network in the field,” says MBA Stephanie Solove Chou on Berkeley’s website.