Interview Reports
Berkeley / Haas
Below are MBA admissions interview questions and experiences submitted by Haas applicants. If you interviewed at Haas, we encourage you to submit a report detailing your experience!Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 3 / Second-Year student / On-Campus
I was greeted by a 2nd year student to conduct my on-campus interview. The interview was blind, but the interviewer did have a copy of my resume which she had briefly read-over before beginning the interview. They started off by asking me to introduce myself and talk about my resume with a specific focus of my current job/role. After that, she asked me about why I wanted an MBA, what I hoped to do it with, and why specifically I was interested in Haas. After those questions, they began probing into more of the behavioral questions around my working style, she asked about what role I like to play when working in teams, what my managers would say about me (strengths and weaknesses) what my friends would say about me (strengths and weaknesses) Finally, the ended with some Haas specific questions, such as what clubs and organizations I wanted to explore and if I had an idea of what companies I would want to explore in the internship process. Last question was about what accomplishment on my resume was I most proud of? Afterwards, she left some time for me to ask some questions and then the interviewed ended. The entire interview was very conversational and laid back.
- Talk about your resume (focus on current role)
- Why an MBA?
- Why Haas?
- What are you going to do after you get an MBA?
- What role do you play when working on a team?
- What are 2 strengths and 2 weaknesses that your manager would say about you?
- What are three words your friends would use to describe you?
- What clubs/orgs are you interested in?
- What companies would you want to intern with?
Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alum / Off-campus
The alum that interviewed me was aware of my information beforehand, so he asked many questions regarding my past experiences and my studies.
Nonetheless, he first told me to talk 5 minutes about my resume and then he started with the questions:
- Tell me about this job which you listed in your resume. What did you learn?
- Have you ever had any bad experiences in your past job?
- Why did you choose Haas for the MBA?
- Is there anything that you did not mention in your application that you would like the adcom to know?
- What do you do in your free time?
- What books are you reading? Why?
And a couple more questions which I can’t just remember know. I have to say I felt relaxed the whole 40 minutes or so that the interview lasted, thanks mostly to the interviewer and also because I had a very good preparation.
Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / On Campus / Alum
Mine was a blind interview with an alum. Seeing that he was young, I became a little less nervous. The interview started with him asking me “Where are you from?” and “Please walk me through your resume”. He asked me why I wanted an MBA and why did I choose Haas. After that, he asked about my short and long term goals, and how an MBA would help me achieve those goals. He asked me if I had any trouble working in a team, and to describe a bad experience working in teams. Asked me about my leadership skills and if I had any questions to ask him.
Overall it was a very conversational interview, and he was a very good interviewer, in my opinion.
Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alum / On-Campus
The interview lasted about 30 minutes.
The questions they asked me were:
- Walk me through your resume.
- Asked some specific questions about my experiences and seemed to be testing my technical and market knowledge.
- Why MBA?
- What are your short and long term goals?
- Why Haas?
- Tell me about a time when you displayed good teamwork.
- Tell me your leadership style.
- Was there any other question I wished he had asked me.
Very comfortable interview overall!
Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus
Interview scheduled with an alum in a coffee shop
He explained the what a blind interview was, and told me the duration was 45min.
He then asked me:
- “Tell me about a time when you were given constructive feedback. How did you respond?”
- “Have you ever experienced conflict with someone on your team? How did you resolve it?”
- “Tell me about your experiencing managing people. Have you managed direct reports?”
- “What kind of leader are you?”
- “Tell me about challenges you’ve faced you have faced at your workplace and how you resolved them?”
- “Which book are you currently reading? Why did you choose it?”
- “Tell us something that you wished you could do differently
He then asked me about any questions I had.
The questions were hard, but it became fairly conversational and casual. We discussed for a while and I should say that I had foreseen this kind of interview and those questions, so I was happy that Berkeley didn’t have any surprises for me. It was a relief.
Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Adcom / On Campus
I had the first round of the interview on campus, and to be honest it lasted less than I had expected (30 minutes). I was a bit nervous at first, but when I finished I was calm and I felt the interview was very promising. They asked all kind of questions:
- Why Haas?
- What excited me most about the program?
- My long-term plans
- Discussion on the state and future of the sector
- What my most embarrassing moment in my professional career had been
- Walk them through my resume
- my leadership experience
- My goals
- What do I know about Strategy Consulting?
So, not easy questions, but I was very prepared and I think it had been really worth the hard work.
Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 Consortium / Alumna / Off-campus
We interviewed at a local Starbucks and it was fairly conversational and friendly. The focus was more so on my background and behavioral questions along with a focus on “why Haas?”. It was a blind interview and so she had not seen anything until we got there, I brought a resume for her to reference and review.
I think the graduates of Haas really make an effort to stay in touch with the school and are very willing to vet the future students to ensure that the tight community stays in tact.
The alumna followed a few pages of outlined questions. So I imagine that is a standard prompt that interviewers will use. It is about one hour long.
Questions:
- Walk me through your resume. Tell me where, why and what you did in school and then the jobs that you have had since as well as the progression of roles. (Will randomly ask questions throughout interview that delve into specifics on resume. e.g. Tell me about this organization, your involvement in X, what was Y like?)
- What is your definition of success? And what is the top success that you have had in your current role? — What about the future, what is your most desired success?
- Referencing a leadership or management position held, what is your style of leadership and how have you been effective?
- Tell me about a time that you had a problem while leading a team, how overcame it, what was the result?
- Do you have a mentor? (*More so professionally, try to provide someone senior to you. Maybe give example of why, how, what have learned from him/her)
- Describe three adjectives that friends would say about you… Three that your family would say about you … Three that your co-workers/subordinates would say about you.
- What is your number one weakness?
- Why Haas? What is something that was unexpected that you discovered about Haas? What programs/classes/ECs would you join while attending Haas?
- Why an MBA? When did you decide? Why not another degree or continued professional education?
- Do you have any questions for me? Or about Haas?
—-
I found it interesting that she did not send the prompt to the school in a timely manner, so the admissions office contacted me weeks afterward as though I had never interviewed. I had to tell them with whom I interviewed and that she should have a record of the meeting. Afterward, I was surprised to get a call from the interviewer (now 3-4 weeks later) and get “one last question asked over the phone that was not originally asked”. That being “what is a challenge that I foresee in going to business-school/Haas?”.
Altogether, I have been happy with my visits and the people I have met who are affiliated with Haas. I am excited to hear the admission decision in the next couple weeks along with the Consortium Fellowship announcements in the middle of March.
Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus
I visited my alum at her workplace after Haas put us in touch via email. The interview overall was extremely laid-back and low pressure. It was very friendly but also a very low energy interview (I’m sure this is just the personality of the interviewer). I was surprised how straight-forward the interview was, very little probing. All the predictable questions were asked and very few others. Overall, the interview certainly did not endear me to the school but I felt like I was able to communicate anything that I wanted to.
Here are some questions:
- Tell me about yourself and what has brought you to this point to apply to Haas for an MBA
- Tell me about the transition from position X to Y. They seem very different.
- What kind of internship will you be looking for?
- What will you contribute and do outside of the academics?
- Tell me more about X on your resume.
Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 Consortium / Alumnus / Off-campus
We met in a coffee table in the corridor of his office floor. He was very friendly and seemed engaged in our conversation. I have to admit that I was a little uncomfortable due to the location and close proximity to his coworkers in an open office area.
He started by introducing himself (academic background, nationality, brief work experience, and concentration while at Haas)
1) Tell me about yourself.
“Sorry I didn’t have a chance of looking at your resume”
2) what do you do as an engineer….
2.1) what’s your role
2.2) do you get involved in business originations
2.3) asked about team interaction within my company and outside my company
2.4) How has my job/responsibilities progressed over the years
3) tell me a time you worked in a team and there was conflict. What did you get out of it? what did you do? (something along those lines)
4) Why Haas
5) Why start in 2013 (next Fall). The why now question.
6) What do you want to do after graduating
I felt that he focused the entire interview on my job (professional experience). My resume had other important components like extracurricular involvement, interesting facts but I guess we didn’t get to it BECAUSE HE DID NOT READ MY RESUME BEFOREHAND. I tried several times to shift the conversation to those “outside of work” extras I felt were important as an MBA applicant but he kept going back to my job!
7) Any questions for me.
My interviewer was VERY nice. everything I expected from a Haas graduate (cool, relaxed, mature, etc)
Fingers crossed. Good luck to you all.
Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alum / Off-Campus
I was interviewed by a somewhat recent alum at a local coffee shop. The interview was very pleasant, but the interviewer stuck to a fairly strict script based on what the school sent out.
Questions asked:
- Tell me about yourself
- Talk about your experience in quant heavy courses
- Tell me about your responsibilities in your current position/role
- Why do you want an MBA and why is now the best time for you
- Why do you want your MBA from Berkeley
- What are you interested in doing at Haas
I thought the interview went well and there was a lot of additional chatting based on the responses I had given.
Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Off Campus / Alum (Consortium Applicant)
I live in LA and given my hectic work schedule, I could not really afford to go to Berkeley, so I arrange for a local interview. I contacted my interviewer and we agreed to meet over lunch at a restaurant in Hollywood near his office. The interviewer was a recent alum (Class of 2011).
The interviewer was very friendly and welcoming. I brought copies of my resume but he already had a copy with him. The interview was very casual and he was probably younger than I was. Overall, it was very conversational and we kept on being interrupted by the waitress so there was not a lot of opportunity to get to serious. Standard questions:
- Tell me about yourself
- Why MBA?
- Why Haas?
- What do you want to do after your MBA?
- How will you contribute to the program?
Those questions were covered before we even got our food. I prepared a lot of this interview. I contacted more than 5 students and 5 alumns of the school and spent significant amount of time researching the clubs and programs at Haas. Getting this questions out of the way, allowed me to ask him a lot of questions for about the next 30-40 minutes. I asked him about many clubs and classes, but unfortunately, he didn’t really know a lot of them. Also, I was mentioning a lot of names and people that I had talk to but he also didn’t know them. I felt like I knew a little bit more about the school than he did. I tried my best to connect all four principles in my answers and they way that I spoke without actually saying them.
He seemed very friendly and seemed more as an agent for questions that I had rather than as an interviewer / obstacle in between me and getting accepted. I closed the interview by re-stating my interest in the school as my first choice and gave him my business card and invited him to stay in touch or do lunch again outside of this context.
We are supposed to hear back in about a week. So fingers crossed.
Berkeley / Haas
| MEAN GMAT | 715 |
| MEAN GPA | 3.64 |
| Class Size | 236 |
| % Female | 29% |
Round 4 applicants will receive final admissions decisions o...
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