Round 3 Interviews & Decisions

Round 3 interview invitations continue to go out, and there may be more between now and Friday, April 24th. Additionally, anyone offered a place on the waitlist who has not already interviewed will have the opportunity to do so after April 28th.

As you may have heard, we have tried to release a few of our Round 3 decisions early to enable as many admitted students as possible to attend our "Days at Haas" admit weekend. Unfortunately, our last full admit weekend is a bit earlier than usual this year due to the academic calendar, which has made this a more challenging process than usual given the size of the application pool. We will release all of our Round 3 decisions on time, according to our printed schedule, on April 28th.

Clean Tech to Market

Over the past few years, the activity around energy issues at UC Berkeley has been frenetic, and last year's $500 million dollar grant from BT for the study of biofuels and President Obama's selection of Berkeley Lab director and nobel laureate Stephen Chu to head the Department of Energy have accelerated this trend.

A number of MBA students are involved on the business side of energy, and one of the Haas School's energy-related projects, Clean Tech to Market, was featured in a Financial Times article last Sunday. Interesting reading for anyone who is looking at the commercialization of new technologies.

Round 3

Now that the dust has cleared from our Round 2 decision release and our waitlist review, we continue to issue interview invitations for Round 3 candidates. We have invited over 70 R3 applicants to interview so far, and I think we are likely to invite at least 150, depending on the strength of the applications. As a reminder, our process is different from many MBA programs in that we invite candidates to interview after the Admissions Committee has reviewed the application rather than on the basis of average test scores, etc. We will invite candidates to interview up until a few days before our response date of April 28th, so don't panic if you are a Round 3 applicant and have not been invited yet!

I'm Back!

Well, I'm back. The mysterious forces of the blogosphere (and I suspect some broken software code somewhere) made this blog disappear for a few days, but I've lifted my head up from reading applications long enough to check in.

Round 2 interviews are well underway, but please remember that we will continue to issue Round 2 interview invitations up until mid-March. Round 3 interviews are likely to begin in early March.

For those of you who may be visiting campus, one of our big, student-led conferences will take place later this month. On February 28th, the Asia Business Conference will explore the theme of "Asia at Crossroads: Exploring Emerging Transformations in Asia." For more information and tickets, visit their website.

Still More About Interviews!

"What percentage of your applicants will be invited to interview?" "Of the applicants who interview, what percentage will be admitted?" As the Round 1 applications continue, I've heard a lot of speculation about the process.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no fixed percentage of applicants who are interviewed, and chances of admission for those who do interview are based on the strength of the entire application package and the interview. In the past few years, between 25% and 30% of all applicants have been selected to interview--but keep in mind that this percentage has varied each year. It's simply a reflection of the strength of the candidates in a specific round.

Although it's a positive sign to be invited to interview, it doesn't mean you'll get an offer--but it does mean that the Admissions Committee saw enough strengths in your application to be seriously considering your candidacy, so it's always a good sign!

If you are invited to interview, be sure to listen to the Interview tips podcast, which you can find at http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/haas/podcast/audio/haas_mba_interview_tips1.mp3.

Round 1 and Round 2 Interviews

Happy 2009 to everyone!

We've had many questions the past few days about interview invitations, and I know there are many anxious Round 1 and Round 2 candidates.

We are continuing to send interview invitations for Round 1 candidates throughout the next two weeks, as we have noted in earlier communications. Additionally, candidates who are notified of waitlist status on January 28 will have the opportunity to schedule an interview after that date.

Round 2 interview invitations will begin going out toward the end of the month.

Round 1 Interviews

Now that we're well into Round 1, it's a good time to explain how the interview process works. We get many questions about the interview process, and it causes a lot of stress for many applicants. Fortunately, it's really a straightforward process, designed to give applicants the opportunity to share more about themselves, their experience, and their career goals.

Interviews for the Berkeley Full-time MBA Program are by invitation only, and invitations are sent after the Admissions Committee has completed its initial review of the application. The Committee takes great pride in reading and evaluating applications for admission, and every single application, regardless of GPA, GMAT, or number of years of work experience, is read by a minimum of two readers. In many instances, an application is read by three readers, and sometimes four. Invitations are sent on a rolling basis, and will continue to go out until shortly before the response date. The timing of the application interview is in no way a reflection of the strength or weakness of a particular application.

Round 1 applicants who are currently living outside the US will be invited to interview with an alumni interviewer; applicants within the US who live outside California will be invited to a Saturday interview day in late January; and applicants residing in California will have the opportunity to interview on campus with a student interviewer.

Each interview has the same weight, whether it takes place in Sao Paulo, London, or Berkeley, and each interviewer goes through the same training program. Once the interview has been completed, the interviewer provides a written assessment to the Admissions Committee which becomes part of the application file. Finally, the entire file is discussed by the Admissions Committee before a decision is released.

Round 1 interview invitations will begin going out the week of December 8th and will continue until the Round 1 notification date or January 28, 2009. For tips on how to prepare for an interview, listen to our interview podcast.