Haas School of Business

Despite being a public university, Haas does an incredible job at providing students with a "private school" experience by offering impressive resources and facilities.

The program could do better in offering specialized counseling for job searches. It is up to the students to seek out counselors and opportunities on campus.

The structural nature of Haas teaches students to compete. A curved grading system and quality classmates help push each other to the next level. The curriculum structure of Haas also does a great job to facilitate peer bonding.

Recently, the school implemented the "Haas Curve" in which all the classes are required to have a class average of around GPA 3.3 This is stressful for both students and professors. It would be great if grading can be adjusted.

The best thing about Haas, and UC Berkeley in general, is the people. The staff, faculty, and the students. It's a completely different world, in a good way. My time here at Haas has completely changed who I am. I have grown significantly, learned a lot, and discovered who I truly am. I think why Haas is unique really becomes evident when you talk to any Haas/Berkeley student about how much they love it.

Haas itself should create a culture that teaches business practices, but supports applying them in fields beyond the immediate accounting, banking and consulting (known informally as the ABCs).

The Undergraduate business program within Haas has been surprising and beneficial. The best thing about the program is that it is through Cal. UC Berkeley as an institution is the best in the world. It forces students to be independent, strong, and challenges them daily. Because Haas is only a 2-year program, business students spend their first 2 years at Cal taking classes in other colleges, exploring majors, and new ideas. This is unique compared to other isolated business programs elsewhere. Additionally, the staff at Haas is top-notch. From administration to professors to graduate student instructor, I have been exposed to a wide range of information and ideas.

Haas absolutely must get better at placing graduates in Silicon Valley jobs. They try to push everyone into accounting, banking, or consulting in San Francisco. Meanwhile, the high-growth tech sector is just an hour south, and Haas has virtually no presence there.

Haas has an amazing brand. There are four defining principles of the program - confidence without attitude, question the status quo, student always, and beyond yourself - and everything in the program is based on these principles. The strong brand of Haas adds to the value of a degree.

There are too many required courses, which detracts from students' ability to follow their interests, and specialize in areas they find particularly enthralling. I personally did not have enough time during the program to take all of the courses I would have liked to.

The effort Haas School of Business puts into providing every available tool and option to students to succeed is incredible. As a business program at a public university, Haas enables students such as myself, a transfer student, to work hard and follow a non-traditional path to reach the school. My life will forever be changed because of the opportunity that I have received as a student at Haas and I wouldn't trade that for anything. Go Bears!

The Haas curve which does not allow a teacher to assign a GPA higher then a 3.2 per class makes it a competitive environment that sometimes does not bring out the best in people. I would recommend having the grading policy more lenient and assigning grades based on merit.

Professors truly care about more than just placement in the best firms. They really want to develop you as leaders, not just find the highest paying job for you.

The curve should be dropped as it promotes cutthroat competition, and the career center should work with student organizations to provide students with more targeted networking opportunities with professionals in specific industries and functions; recruiting can feel like a assembly line process sometimes.