The Scoop On GPA

We all know that Haas expects the very best students to apply. And by best students I mean those with stellar grades and those exceptional few who may be much more experienced in the way of the world or have hardships which can makeup for a bad GPA (i.e. amazing work experience, life experience, etc), assuming their overall grade trend is improving. I know many Haas students and it's fair to say that most fall in either one or both of these categories. It's true that most Haas students have amazing GPAs, but just because you don't doesn't mean you won't get in. If you have something else outstanding that can prove you are truly a provocative individual, you may be surprised. And to further give you some encouragement, grade inflation is accounted for in admissions as well. If you look at the Haas admission statistics for both continuing Cal students and transfer students, you will see that the GPAs of the transfers are higher than those of the continung students. This isn't because transfer students are smarter (which I will comment on in a later post); this is because the schools that students transfer from tend to inflate grades whereas Cal, and Haas especially, have nearly no grade inflation. In fact, Haas might actually have grade DEFLATION. I digress... So the morale of this tangent is: cheer up students with low GPAs and amazing other qualities and experiences, because you may just be lucky enough to get into Haas and destroyed by me and my curve making posse. Just kidding. See my previous post to get the humor ingrained in my ridiculously brutish remark.

As always, take my advice with an objective and critical ear. I'm not trying to raise your hopes and stir you up. I'm just sharing what I've come to learn and experience. And good luck to those of you applying for Fall 2009.

What the Haas Atmosphere is Really Like

I remember when I was applying to Haas and scouring for as much information as I could find about. For the most part, what surfaces are random forum comments describing the brutal, cutthroat nature of of Haas students and their willingness to sabotage one another to get ahead on the ever so notorious "Haas Curve". For the overwhelming majority of students that I've encountered, this couldn't be further from the truth. It remains true that this is the mind-set of some Haas students, and if the id were allowed to take over control of the mind, this scenario might play out. But in general, students tend to be helpful towards each other and very friendly. The real culprit here is the Institution itself. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing but the utmost respect and highest regard for Haas, but the attempts by the administration to instill this wedge-driving grading policy is a knock against the school in my book. The curve reinforces that sabotage way of thinking and is the source of competition, but it is the only way to differentiate top students and maintain high business school rankings. So, the competition is put in place by administration and left for the students to meddle over. But this is a business school we're talking about after all, so competition is needed despite what anyone says about the byproducts. If all that wasn't enough, the Haas Undergraduate program has recently implemented a new curve where an even smaller percentage of students get A's (something like 5%). Fortunately, many professors don't follow the new curve as it is a recommendation and not mandatory (or so it appears). But beware, consistently getting straight A's in Haas is anything but easy.

So here we go...

At the risk of falling into the stereotypical outspoken Cal student persona, I created this blog to help shed some light on the undergraduate business program at the Haas School of Business. Essentially, this blog will be a provocative first-hand (and biased might I add) view of everything you ever wanted to know about the Haas undergraduate program, with a hint of sarcasm, cynicism, egotism, realism, and some of the other ism's and asm's. I will hit on a little bit of everything, from admissions to food choices to class difficulty to career opportunities; basically, whatever I feel like writing about and whatever is of interest to those with voices. So sit back and enjoy the show, and feel free to email me at haasinsider@gmail.com with any questions or information requests. Not sure on the turn around time but I'll try to respond in a timely manner.