Location, Location, Location: Unbeatable Northern California
Few geographical areas in the world can meet, let alone beat, the Haas School’s central location in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Haas community is, in turn, profoundly shaped by its surroundings, including the school’s magnificent facilities, the UC Berkeley campus, the city of Berkeley, and Northern California.

The San Francisco Bay Area is perennially designated the world’s most popular tourist destination - and for good reasons. There is the area’s stunning natural beauty, its seductively benign weather, and its atmosphere charged with a worldly sophistication and a distinctive openness to new ways of thinking. There is also so much to see, and so much to do. No matter where they are from, Haas MBA students quickly adapt to the prevailing culture of California - work hard and play hard.

Haas culture is enhanced by the school’s complex of three interconnected buildings arranged around an outdoor courtyard. Completed in 1995, the building was the last project of the celebrated American architect Charles Moore, whose design pays homage to Berkeley’s past architectural styles, such as California Craftsman. The effect, as New York Times architecture critic Paul Goldberger wrote, is "friendly, welcoming, connected to Berkeley’s past and yet with a sharpness and crispness that mark it absolutely as being of this moment."

The Berkeley campus is perched on a hillside; its upper reaches are devoted to a vast nature preserve - excellent for a run or a contemplative walk with postcard views of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Pacific Ocean beyond. Surrounding the campus is the city of Berkeley, the quintessential university town, and a legendary one. With its multitude of coffee houses, shops, churches, theaters, world-famous gourmet restaurants, charming neighborhoods, beautiful gardens, and some of the best bookstores anywhere, Berkeley is cosmopolitan, funky, friendly, relaxed, and always stimulating.

The city of San Francisco needs no introduction, since nearly everyone on the planet has either experienced its charms or seen it in countless films and television shows. Entertainment, culture, night life, shopping, sightseeing, architectural gems - San Francisco is the epitome of the world-class city blessed with the best of everything.

Less than an hour north of Berkeley is the alluring wine country of Napa and Sonoma counties. The moody, breathtaking Pacific Ocean compels a visit to one of the many open beaches or picturesque seaside towns dotting the coastline, including Big Sur, Carmel-by-the-Sea, and Mendocino. The natural beauty of Yosemite National Park, with its exquisite glacier-carved valley of towering waterfalls and granite mountains, is only three hours from the campus.

Jennifer Ruzek, MBA/MPH 02, says she chose Haas not only because of its connections to San Francisco and Silicon Valley but because she wanted to be close to the two things that she loves to do most: surf and ski. "The waves at Ocean Beach are only 30 minutes away, and the skiing at Lake Tahoe is just a short trip from the East Bay."