Each year, the beginnings of lifelong Haas connections are forged at the Full-time MBA Program’s orientation week. At OWeek, incoming students engage in a wide range of activities, from cohort Olympics to a community impact project. In addition, they have the opportunity to meet and hear the insights of top-ranking executives from various high-profile companies.

Full-time MBA Program

A Typical year

First Year

Pre-enrollment Review Workshops

(optional/late summer)

Quantitative Methods Workshop: Two-week review of math, probability, statistics, accounting, and finance
Communications Workshop: Two-week refresher of business communication, oral communication, and writing skills

MBA Orientation

(required/late August)
One-week introduction to life at Haas. Fun, too!

Fall Semester

The Core: The Berkeley MBA curriculum is anchored by 12 required core courses that provide the tools and knowledge to lead effectively. These first-year courses make up 40% of the curriculum.

Weeks 1-7
Required Core Courses A

Data and Decisions
Economics for Business Decision Making (Microeconomics)
Organizational Behavior
Leadership Communication (once-a-week evening sessions)

Week 8

Fall A final exams
Career Management Conference
(two-day program of career planning workshops and exercises)

Weeks 9-15
Required Core Courses B

Financial Accounting
Introduction to Finance
Marketing Management
Leadership (once-a-week evening sessions)

Spring Semester

Weeks 1-7
Required Core Courses A

Introduction to Operations Management
Macroeconomics in the Global Economy

Week 8

Spring A final exams

Weeks 9-15
Required Core Courses B

Strategy in the Global Context
Ethics and Responsibility in Business
Leadership

Elective Courses (full 15-week semester)
View the current list of electives.

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Second Year

Fall Semester

Elective Courses
You have great flexibility in choosing from a wide variety of electives and dual degree offerings – from within the Haas School and the wider university – as well as designing courses of your own in conjunction with a faculty member. Electives are introduced and updated regularly and reflect the newest trends in business. View the current list of electives.

Four or five electives

Spring Semester

Elective Courses

Four or five electives

Global Study Opportunities
Berkeley MBA students are encouraged to take advantage of numerous opportunities to travel and study abroad. Learning first-hand about the global aspects of business can be a powerful addition to the Berkeley MBA experience. Opportunities include:

Study Tours: Regular travel and study treks to Asia, Latin America, or Europe organized by student clubs or the program office. Recent trips include Shanghai, China, and Israel, where students met with former Israeli prime minister and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Shimon Peres and top business leaders.
International Business Development Course: A quarter of the MBA class travels in teams throughout the world while engaged in consulting projects with firms or nonprofits.

Leading Through Innovation Initiatives
Leading Through Innovation in the Berkeley MBA Program is a challenging set of educational experiences that take advantage of the school’s culture of leadership and innovation. They include:

Haas@Work, a program of applied innovation that puts MBA students to work on business challenges in firms.
Peers@Haas, a ground-breaking program enabling MBA students to elevate their leadership capabilities with year-long feedback from peers.
Other experiential learning opportunities, offered typically on weekends, including executive skills workshops on leadership presence, and mastering the innovation process, among others.

Berkeley MBA Investment Banking Fellows Program
The Berkeley MBA Investment Banking Fellows Program supports and encourages talented students to pursue careers in investment banking. This program, funded by the CJ White Scholarship Fund, awards scholarships to a select group of full-time Berkeley MBA students each year who have demonstrated a commitment to the field. In addition to receiving specialized career counseling and a subsidy for school-organized visits to investment banking firms in New York or overseas, student fellows are also paired with experienced mentors in the investment banking community.

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