STUDENT COMMENTS
While the formal academic process has been of a high caliber, the informal extracurricular activities off campus were what really helped me developed the essential soft skills for a business career. Judging from my investment banking experience this summer, Haas equips students well to compete with students from the likes of Wharton and Stanford. More quantitative training would help, but the teamwork and the work ethic developed at Haas enabled the Berkeley interns to perform very well relative to interns from other schools.
My only major complaint with Haas is their mandatory summer program for sophomores that are accepted to the program. I understand the need to have students take courses in the summer to allow for less crowded lectures during the school year. However, more often than not, this mandatory summer school severely limits student opportunities to gain real-world experience through summer internships. Students can petition out of the program, but are penalized the next summer. This policy is one that can be improved.
I loved this program. I learned a tremendous amount about business and business skills. I gained from the professors immeasurably. My classmates never ceased to impress me. My networking skills were honed in school-sponsored functions. And, ultimately, I was offered a position in an exciting field making more money than I ever expected I would straight out of college. The Haas undergraduate business program is of the highest caliber.
Given that Haas/Berkeley is a public school, it is amazing at what it has given to its students. I pay less than 8 grand a year and receive such an amazing education and am lucky enough to have so many wonderful opportunities as soon as I graduate. I am so thankful that I chose to attend Berkeley and Haas.
There are many opportunities to network and hunt for jobs. The only problem is that there are also many number of interesting upper-elective business courses that I want to take. Given that Haas has a strict policy that one cannot stay an extra semester, I feel that if I were to take all the courses that I want (currently I am enrolled in 22 units and next semester I will be enrolled in 29 units), it would be hard to balance academic coursework and activity with job-hunting endeavors.
I actually like the fact that the program at Berkeley is two years, not four. I think it lets the students develop their interests first and choose to go into business instead of being thrown into it from the beginning.
Very worth the time, effort, and resources. Builds great relationships with professors and peers. Has everything you can want in a business program. You just have to know where to find it. In the past year, Haas has been doing a better job of letting students know how and where to find the resources and programs that it provides.
The students buy into the idea of being a great business school and tend to think they are better than the rest of the student body. That has been a disappointment for me. Also disappointing is the failure of the school to have an emphasis on marketing and human resources or management for a career. The career center and the business school do not offer a lot of jobs or internships related to these topics. Once one gets into Haas, they have the choice of becoming an accountant, an i-banker, or a consultant, and that's about it. Other than that, the facilities are beautiful and great!
The school really listens to student needs. After some surveys, it was discovered that the students desired a dedicated administrative person who contacted firms to do recruitment on campus specifically for undergraduate business students. While the business school already has such account managers for the MBAs, undergraduates did not. But since we've asked for it, the dean has been quick about letting us know that he's going to fill the position. Such responses are really appreciated and indicative of our general business experience.
The two things I wish were better at the business school is its commitment to increasing diversity and making sure that people don't just work on team projects together, but work effectively as a team.
Haas is amazing because of the initiative the students take in making the experience legitimate, competitive, and ground-breaking. I'm in a student group called Berkeley Consulting that recruits about six new students each semester out of 150 that apply (the group has about 35 students total at any one time). We consult for real firms and have the opportunity to work directly with CEOs, VPs, and nonprofit gurus. We get paid for the work we do, and spend it on socials, retreats, etc. Where else is there opportunity like this?
It was very good. Acceptance into undergrad Haas is very competitive and it's fully warranted. There are perks to this major such as first choice in business classes over non-Haas students. The classes are interesting and useful for real world, meaning a lot of non-Haas students want to take the classes as well. There is a strong undergrad Haas community, mostly because you start taking classes with many of the same Haas students. The required summer program gives newly accepted students a chance to get to know each other and a chance to start recognizing other Haas students. It fulfilled all my expectations. If I had to go back in time, I would choose the same path.
Professors in Haas are great. They are very knowledgeable about the subject matter they are teaching and, because of their work-related experiences, are able to integrate what we learn from class with what takes place in the workplace.
Hass offers a variety of classes that broaden students skill sets. One of the classes I didn't think I would take prior to my admission, but found very worthwhile, is the Negotiation class I am currently taking with Professor Holly Schroth. We are paired up with different partners to do the negotiation cases. This has improved my communication skills and exposed me to various negotiation techniques.
Hass also place a strong emphasis on business ethics. The very first class we are required to take is an ethics class. In my accounting classes, professors also make sure that we are aware of that.
Haas has been an amazing experience for me and I'm so sad to have to graduate. Business Admin. is by far the best major at Berkeley and I'd do it all over again if I could!
My business school experience was good and bad. Good: Met a lot of great people who are now part of my network. These people were instrumental in informing me what it's really like to be on the job and prepping me for recruiting season. Bad: Haas never warns students that they must prepare a lot for recruiting or that internships are so important. Consequently, many students are unprepared and have a hard time finding jobs they like or that utilize their capabilities.
Haas has also recently increased efforts to bring the real world into the campus. One example is an introduction to financial modeling course that was offered one weekend. It was a crash course offered by Training on the Street. We learned much of what first-year investment banking analysts would learn as a part of their introductory training. Whether banking was in our future or not, it was an interesting experience and I picked up many things along the way.
Although I feel Haas is an excellent school, there is too much emphasis placed on accounting.
The competition is ridiculous—often dysfunctional. I feel like I'm going to school with a bunch of robots who would kill you if it resulted in their benefit.
Overall the students are of high quality and competition keeps the standards high. The program is generally well regarded on the Berkeley campus as a competitive one to get into. The school is still in the process of improving career services for the undergraduates, which is currently not on par with what the grad students receive. Course offerings tend to lean heavily towards finance and accounting. Seems like marketing elective course offerings and career service support for nonfinance/accounting jobs could be more robust. Efforts to bring the grad student and undergrad communities together have begun but need more work.
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