Haas School of Business

-The experience was invaluable and life changing for me. That being said, it is a brutal commitment, extremely challenging and heavily drawing on resources of all kinds (personal, family, work goodwill) to accomplish.

-The EWMBA at Haas is one of the best part-time programs in the country, and certainly the best in Northern California for certain areas of focus. If the person's focus was entrepreneurship, I would highly recommend Haas. If the person's focus was finance, there might be other programs (e.g., Wharton West) that are more quantitative and provide better background.

-Because MBA schools don't require a business undergrad, students coming in to the program have a lot of variance in their knowledge of basic business skills- so we spent a lot of time in our first year getting people from other majors up to speed on basic finance, accounting and economics. I wish Haas required incoming students to complete these basic courses at a junior college so our first year could be spent going deeper in these areas.

-This is a program that brings the best of the full time MBA at Haas to people who have challenging work schedules. I appreciate the access to world-renowned faculty in a setting and schedule that fits my needs.

-They can serve better food on campus during weekends. About 50% of classes are held in the off-campus location - the food there is much better.

-My experience at Haas has been excellent. It has directly contributed to my effectiveness as a businessperson, the networking and social circle expansion has been really beneficial and I'm confident that my career will grow much faster because of it.

-I would have liked some opportunities to attend class remotely, but I can understand the rationale for not offering this service since the learning and networking is enhanced while being physically not digitally present. Haas did offer to record classes for us if we were unable to attend due to work commitments.

-Haas's EWMBA program enables a business professional to think outside the box, clearly identify challenges & opportunities as well as a framework to capitalize on those opportunities. This is a priceless experience for anybody who is not satisfied with the status quo.

-Currently, the on-campus recruiting process is geared more towards the full-time students where the positions available require much less experience than what the part-time students already have. The on-campus recruiting process should be enhanced to work equally well for the part-time students by attracting more experienced hire positions.

-I knew Berkeley professors would be good but I was amazed at the breadth of professors who all had an incredible depth of knowledge from both practical and academic experience. #1 among my reasons to urge my friends is the opportunity to learn from this experience.

-I would have liked more real company projects that would have given me direct insight into other functions and companies. I came to business school to learn and explore other industries and I felt this was difficult to do on my own time while juggling work and classes.

-The program's diversity of the student body added so much to the program that I can't imagine not doing the program and want to encourage all those who have ever considered an MBA to go to my program.

-The only problem I have with the degree is the excessive cost. Due to the >$100,000 price tag, my company rewrote their tuition assistance program to provide a cap, which left me with much more student debt than I expected during application.

-Haas provided not only the education & exposure in business that I was looking for, but more importantly, I was impressed with the caliber of classmates I was fortunate enough to meet. Great place to learn, especially for those interested in pursuing business careers in high tech & entrepreneurship.

-The program is still growing relative to how to make the program more attractive to the commuting student. Beyond the classroom time on the weekend, the opportunities to interact and network are limited unless the commuting student is willing to make the sacrifices necessary to be available and on or near campus during the week or willing to miss class to attend the select Saturday events.

-The workload was hard but manageable, and I really was impressed by level of class discussion. Excellent faculty and intelligent peers really enhanced learning experience. I learned a lot, and gained the confidence that I can achieve my goals.

-The first year of my program (2008), the school provided free student tutors and would connect you with someone appropriate for the topic. This was eliminated the following year, with the explanation that tutoring or additional help should be available via your Graduate Student Intern (GSI). Not all of the GSI's held help sessions, nor were they always available (many were other part-time students who were busier than most) so my recommendation would be to recreate a student tutor program. It doesn't need to be provided for free, but helping students seek assistance for 1:1 help as desired would be greatly valued, especially during the first year as you are adjusting to being a student again, often after many years in out of school.

-My compensation over the 3-year period of my studies increased 3-fold. I made friends with people from every industry that I never would have met otherwise. I did this all while sacrificing nothing except my time and a little bit of money. It was a perfect program.