Berkeley PTMBA

Essay: Professional Statement

Prompt: Please summarize your primary area of professional expertise or knowledge. What do you do, and what are you known for? (150 words)

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Clearly this essay wants you to answer the question, "What unique expertise or area of knowledge will you be contributing to classroom discussion and/or projects." Focus on something that you and you alone might know about that will be valuable for others to learn about. Also, please do not ignore the last part of the question: "What are you known for?" This expertise or knowledge must be something that you are currently contributing to your profession or organization. In other words, it's not a private hobby that you pursue on the side.

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When writing about your professional expertise or knowledge, consider framing them with one of Haas's Leadership Principles: Question the Status Quo, Confidence without Attitude, Students Always, and Beyond Yourself.

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If you are not sure how to frame this short essay, here are some suggestions that you may be able to apply to your writing:

Question the Status Quo

• How you see the future in a way that others can't, and what that future might look like.
• How your knowledge or expertise makes a significant impact or change at a local, state, national, or global level, and why.

Confidence without Attitude

• How you have been using that skill or knowledge along with the courage and persistence to pursue a dream or an opportunity.
• How you want to inspire others to learn this skill.

Students Always

• How you have been learning something new to advance your skills or knowledge.
• How you have been exploring some new areas in relationship to your core expertise and knowledge.

Beyond Yourself

• How your expertise or knowledge not only creates financial profit but also social profit.
• How your expertise contributes to making things better for a community as well as your profession.

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Optional Essay

If you have faced hardships or unusual life circumstances, Berkeley wants to consider the maturity, perseverance, and thoughtfulness with which you have responded to and/or overcome them.

Optional Information #1: Challenges / Non-Academic Learning Experiences as a Youth

Prompt: We invite you to help us better understand the context of your opportunities and achievements:

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1. If you were raised in one of the following household types, please indicate:

• Raised by a single parent
• Raised by an extended family member (grandparent, aunt/uncle, niece/nephew, cousin)
• Raised in a multi-generational home
• Raised in foster care

5. If you have you ever been responsible for providing significant and continuing financial or supervisory support for someone else, please indicate:

• Child
• Spouse
• Sibling
• Parent
• Extended family member (grandparent, aunt/uncle, niece/nephew, cousin)
• Other

You are welcome to use this opportunity to expand on hardships or unusual life circumstances that may help us understand the context of your opportunities, achievements, and impact.

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Finally, you will have the opportunity to convey relevant information not addressed elsewhere in your application. This may include an explanation of academic aberrations, supplemental coursework, etc.

(maybe 300 words maximum)

This essay may be used to elaborate on special life circumstances that caused some unusual obstacles that you had to surmount or created the need for you to be adaptable. Basically, Haas is looking for a story of how you went from a youth where things might have gone sideways to a successful situation in which you are now applying for the MBA program. How did you do that?

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Other examples of life circumstances are:

• Parents or guardians who did not complete high school or who completed only high school, and how that affected your own education
• Parents or guardians who were unemployed or employed in low-income occupations, and how that impacted you
• Households in which English was not spoken (alluding to U.S. households) and how that impacted you

This essay may be used to convey relevant information not addressed elsewhere in your application. This may include explanation of employment gaps, academic aberrations, supplemental coursework, etc. You are encouraged to use bullet points where appropriate.

"The Optional Essay is an opportunity to turn a weakness into a strength." - Elaine

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Supplemental Information

1. Please briefly list how you have demonstrated strong quantitative abilities or plan to strengthen your quantitative abilities (prior to beginning your MBA program). Please be aware of the Berkeley Quant Readiness Course.
2. As needed: If you have ever been subject to academic discipline, placed on probation, suspended, or required to withdraw from any college or university, please explain. An affirmative response to this question does not disqualify you from admission.
3. For each recommender, please list (a) their name, (b) company, (c) the dates you worked with the person, and (e) the context of your professional relationship (that person's role, your role, and how closely you worked with that person).
4. As needed: Please provide an account of any gaps in your employment since earning your undergraduate degree. If you are currently not employed full time, please explain your current employment situation and your career search plans.
5. List up to five significant community and professional organizations and extracurricular activities in which you have been involved during or after university studies.
6. If you are applying from outside the Bay Area, please explain your plans to attend classes on campus: Please include your employment plans and whether you intend to relocate or commute. (The intent is to understand the practicality of your planning.)

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Video Interview

Applicants will complete two short video questions.

• One question will be based on your desire to attend Haas and
• the other will give us a chance to get to know you better.

For each question, you will have 1-2 minutes of response time. Please don’t feel obligated to use the entire response time, we’re interested in what you have to say, not how long your answer is.

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After you receive the link you have SEVEN days to complete the video interview. However, we encourage you to complete it shortly after receiving your invitation.

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Once you launch your official interview you will have only one opportunity to answer each question. Unfortunately, there is NOT an option to redo the official responses. You will, however, have the opportunity to answer practice questions to get you familiar with the system. If you finish answering the questions before your allotted time expires, you can end the recording early.

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We are looking for your fit within the Haas community and to understand your motivations for pursuing an MBA. We think of this as an opportunity to get to know you better as a person, not just who we see on your written application. With that in mind, try to use this opportunity to show us your authentic self. Don’t try to give us the answers you think we want to hear - we want to get to know the real YOU!

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I provide you with practice questions, and you will practice the One to Two Minute Response.

☞ Find practice questions to prepare for your video assessment.

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