Berkeley Haas requires a video essay and three written essays.

Berkeley Haas has long been at the forefront of addressing inclusivity in business school and beyond, seeking to create and cultivate a community that reflects genuine diversity in every sense of the word. As such, Haas is looking for candidates who demonstrate self- and situational awareness, which is an invitation to be both introspective and authentic across your essays. It also elevates the importance of doing your research on the Berkeley Haas environment and program beyond a cursory website review. 

As former Associate Director of Admissions at Berkeley Haas, I think this suite of Berkeley Haas MBA essay questions is excellent. Let’s talk strategy — what Haas is looking for in each of its new questions and how best to tackle them.

 

Context matters: Decoding the Berkeley Haas MBA Essays 

First, don’t overlook the valuable context that Haas offers up in the brief intro to its essay questions, which conveys the school’s defining leadership principles and interest in fit (mentioned twice). The school has long put a premium on challenging the status quo (first of the four principles) – and is signaling core elements that Haas students and alumni embody. You’ll do well to keep these in mind in your storytelling.

Berkeley Haas MBA Essay Question #1:

What makes you feel alive when you are doing it, and why? (300 words maximum)

I love the wording of this question. Any opportunity to learn about what ignites the spark in a candidate is really exciting to read. (Remember that most Haas admissions readers will be plowing through some 2,000 application essays in a single cycle.) It’s also evocative of the iconic Stanford GSB essay, ‘what matters most to you, and why?’ — which similarly gets personal and requires a profound level of self-reflection and sincerity. 

This question also underscores that Haas is looking for people who will actively contribute to the community and beyond, not just in the classroom. Your intellectual acumen and accomplishments being a given, what are you passionate about, and why does it ignite that aliveness in you? This essay prompt allows the admissions team to understand ‘what makes you tick’, thereby digging deep into your motivations and going beyond what they’ll glean from your academic record and work history.  

A successful essay will share a specific and personal experience that helps the reader get to know you better, giving insight into your character, values, or how you would uniquely contribute to the Berkeley-Haas community. 

Given that you only have 300 words, the maxim to ‘show not tell’ is critical here. You want to bring the reader on the experience with you so they can smell, taste, feel and connect to whatever it is you’re describing – what it felt like to summit that mountaintop and peer into the volcano’s smoky belly, or the felt experience in a devotional act of creation that erased any sense of time. 

And unless it’s deeply sincere and will ring true, a community service moment or tutoring exchange isn’t necessarily the place to shine the spotlight. Dig deep and dare to have a little fun here; your voice can convey your personality.

Berkeley Haas MBA Essay Question #2

What are your short-term and long-term career goals, and how will an MBA from Haas help you achieve those goals?

Short-term career goals should be achievable within 3-5 years post-MBA, whereas long-term goals may span a decade or more and encompass broader professional aspirations.  (300 words maximum)

With the word count recently expanded to 300 words, this question is probing more deeply to see if applicants have realistic yet ambitious goals that can be met through the program at Haas.

Note that the prompt asks, “How will an MBA from Haas help…” This essay is really looking beyond the credential of the recognized degree. Berkeley wants to know what skills you will build or enhance and what experiences you will leverage in pursuit of career goals. It’s important to be specific. Make sure you call out what specific aspects of Berkeley’s MBA program will bolster your success after graduation.

We sometimes suggest citing companies that heavily recruit at Haas when applicable as a way of showing your awareness of the school and the link between your goals and what is achievable. For the budding entrepreneurs, perhaps mention Haas alumni entrepreneurs who are working in a similar space. Finally, long-term goals are typically aspirational and should be supported by the foundation built upon through achieving short-term career goals.

Overall, my take on the rationale behind this question is this: the committee wants to know if your personal and professional goals are aligned with the program at Haas and how you will leverage the Berkeley MBA experience to achieve them.

Berkeley Haas MBA Essay Question #3:

Experience with Diversity, Equity or Inclusion

One of our goals at Berkeley Haas is to develop leaders who value diversity and to create an inclusive environment in which people from different ethnicities, genders, lived experiences, and national origins feel welcomed and supported.

Describe any experience or exposure you have in the area of diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging whether through community organizations, personal, or in the workplace?

Candidates seeking consideration for mission-aligned fellowships may use this space to reflect on their commitment to the mission of those fellowships.  (300 words maximum)

Some or many applicants will not have direct experience in supporting DEI, especially international candidates for whom the concept may be new.  Even so, it’s important to demonstrate awareness of the importance of diversity and inclusion and to share one’s own exposure to the concepts and perhaps how you hope your time at Haas will add to your ability to be an inclusive leader. 

Remember that diversity can be much broader than race, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Feel free to explore differences in national origin, class or lived experiences and the lessons you learned from these experiences.

This year, the link to mission-aligned fellowships is new and allows applicants to potentially map their experiences to specific supplemental scholarships. For example, if an applicant has been involved in mentoring girls to pursue careers in STEM, they may choose to write about this to be considered for the Forté Fellowship. These are awarded at schools partnering with the Forté Foundation, which has a mission “to empower female MBA students and sustainably increase the number of women in business and leadership. Forté Fellowships will be awarded to students who demonstrate a commitment to advancing women in business.”

Berkeley Haas MBA Essay Question #4:
Video Essay Question

Last year, Haas joined the growing ranks of B-schools offering or requiring video submissions. This is a useful way to assess poise, presence and judgment as well as the thoughts and information you share.

 It’s also a way to enhance authenticity. While essays can now easily be cranked out with ChatGPT, an effective and personal video is harder to automate.(We definitely don’t recommend using AI to write your MBA application essays — and the Haas application form now states, “Application essays will be screened through anti-plagiarism software.”)

The Berkeley Haas video essay prompt asks:

The Berkeley MBA program develops leaders who embody our four Defining Leadership Principles. Briefly introduce yourself to the admissions committee, explain which leadership principle resonates most with you, and tell us how you have exemplified the principle in your personal or professional life. (Not to exceed two minutes.)

Your UC Berkeley video essay can be a fun and fresh way to express your excitement about Haas. The Defining Leadership Principles are a distinctive draw that attracts students to Berkeley, and these provide a framing device for creative ways to share your enthusiasm.

Be succinct. Two minutes may seem like a lot when you’re staring into the eye of the camera with admissions on the line — but it’s really not. With only that short window to work with, don’t try to address all four of the principles. Instead, focus on one of the principles and demonstrate how you reflect it with clear and cogent examples. 

Once you’ve sketched out your thoughts and know what you want to say, practice!  As noted, your responses are likely to be evaluated for communication skills and poise as much as for content. And if you’re a bit intimidated about talking on camera or mastering the technology, Fortuna has you covered. Our fellow coach Cassandra Pittman explains how to ace your video here, and Karen Hamou offers advice on what to wear. We also offer prep sessions for the video exercise – sign up for a free consultation to learn more.

Berkeley Haas MBA Optional Essay Questions:

Optional Information #1:

Haas invites candidates to provide additional information to help them understand the context of their opportunities and achievements by answering five short questions and an optional essay:

1. The highest level of education completed by your parent(s) or guardian(s).
2. The most recent occupation of your parent(s) or guardian(s).
3. The type of household you were raised in.
4. The primary language spoken in your childhood home.
5. If you have ever been responsible for providing significant and continuing financial or supervisory support for someone else.
6. Please elaborate on any of your above responses. Alternatively, you may use this opportunity to expand on other hardships or unusual life circumstances that may help us understand the context of your opportunities, achievements, and impact. (300 words maximum)

Optional Information #2:

This section should only be used to convey relevant information not addressed elsewhere in your application. This may include explanations of employment gaps, academic aberrations, supplemental coursework, etc. You are encouraged to use bullet points where appropriate. (No listed word count, but Fortuna recommends 300 words max).

The spirit behind asking both of these optional essays is the same: to better understand the applicant by homing in on the path that they have walked through life.  This includes the challenges certain applicants face to get to where they are – even when students themselves don’t see them as distinctive or noteworthy. 

It’s a recognition from Haas of the huge range of students applying to business school, and a desire to support the admissions committee’s decision-making by supplying a full and rich understanding of who each applicant truly is and the circumstances that shaped their lives. You’ll do well to respond to the first question, while avoiding the second unless you have something truly relevant to add that isn’t elsewhere addressed.

Want more free advice?

View our MBA Admissions Essay Masterclass on Berkeley Haas, Duke Fuqua, Yale SOM & UCLA Anderson.

All sessions from our MBA Admissions Essay Masterclass series are available on Fortuna’s YouTube channel. 

For more tips and prompts for getting started, check out our two-part series on MBA essay writing:  Writing a Powerful MBA Essay: Part 1 – The Essentials and Writing Powerful Essays – Part 2: The ‘Introduce Yourself’ Question.

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Fortuna Admissions expert coach Sharon Joyce is former Berkeley Haas Associate Director of Admissions. For a candid assessment of your chances of admission success at a top MBA program, sign up for a free consultation.