Evening & Weekend MBA Program
The Berkeley MBA Curriculum
A Solid Foundation
As a Berkeley MBA student, you will be immersed in a rigorous, comprehensive curriculum in which you master the essential skills of general management, from accounting and finance to marketing and strategy. You will build a basic framework in qualitative, analytical, strategic, and problem-solving skills.
Orientation lays the groundwork
The program kicks off with an informative and social orientation. During the mandatory weekend, you'll get to know other new students and gain a sense of what the classroom experience will hold. Held every August near the Berkeley campus, the New Student Orientation features team-building exercises and lectures and workshops on special topics. As an introduction to the case study method that will feature prominently in your coursework at Haas, you will tackle a real-life business challenge.
First year basics
The Berkeley MBA first-year curriculum is anchored by ten required core courses that build upon one another and provide the tools and knowledge to lead effectively.
In your first year, a required leadership course will develop your capacity to lead others. The course provides:
- In-depth understanding of your own capabilities, based on 360-degree evaluations from managers, subordinates, and peers.
- Participation in experiential leadership exercises.
- Readings on the latest advances on leadership.
- Discussions of cases offered by top business leaders.
By the end of the course, you will develop a customized plan to elevate your own leadership potential by improving such skills as fostering creativity and learning a flexible set of leadership approaches.
Halfway mark triggers retreat
At the end of the first half of the program, students gather for a weekend of off-campus team competition and camaraderie, demonstrating the knowledge acquired in the first year-and-a-half of study.
The Mid-Program Academic Retreat (MPAR) presents students with the opportunity to:
- Collaborate on a computer simulation project that integrates all of the material from the core courses.
- Provides an opportunity to spend leisure time with fellow classmates in a recreational setting.
Second year customization
In the second year of the program, you'll begin to customize your own course of study. A central component of the Berkeley MBA program is its menu of cutting-edge elective courses, which comprise 60 percent of the curriculum.
Top-ranked specialties
In 2007, U.S. News & World Report ranked the following Haas School areas of study in the top ten nationally:
- Entrepreneurship
- Finance
- International
- Management
- Marketing
- Nonprofit
