The online MBA application for the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business is live for the 2016-2017 admissions season. This means that the Haas MBA recommendation questions are now available for Class of 2019 applicants and their recommenders. The form begins by asking for recommenders’ contact information and whether they have an affiliation with Haas.

The Berkeley Haas Recommendation form begins with the basic identifying questions and then jumps into 4 required essay-style questions. The Haas MBA adcom notes that recommenders are “encouraged to be completely candid and to provide specfic examples whenever possible.”

1. Please provide a brief description of your interaction with the applicant and, if applicable, the applicant’s role in your organization.

2. How does the applicant’s performance compare to that of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? Please provide specific examples. (E.g. what are the applicant’s principal strengths?)

3. Describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant’s response.

4. In the Berkeley MBA program, we develop leaders who embody our distinctive culture’s four key principles [http://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/community/culture.html] one of which is “confidence without attitude” or “confidence with humility”. Please comment on how the applicant reflects this Berkeley-Haas value.

5. (Optional) Is there anything else we should know?

Next, the adcom asks recommenders to rate the MBA applicant on a series of character and leadership traits on the following scale: Truly Exceptional (top 1%), Superior (top 5%), Very Good (top 10%), Good
(top 25%), Average (top 50%), Below Average (below 50%), No Opportunity to Observe.

Please give us your appraisal of the applicant in terms of the traits listed below. Compare the applicant with others whom you know have applied to business school or with individuals who are being groomed for leadership positions within your organization. It should be extremely rare for any candidate to receive truly exceptional in all areas.

• Self-confidence
• Communication skills
• Self-awareness
• Maturity
• Open to different viewpoints
• Empathy
• Ability to influence without authority
• Ability to accept constructive feedback
• Intellectual curiosity
• Analytical ability
• Quantitative ability
• Ability to question the status quo Initiative
• Adaptability
• Resilience
• Personal integrity/ethics
• Relationship-building skills

And, finally, referrers are prompted to provide their final recommendation:

To what degree do you recommend this applicant be admitted to the Berkeley Full-time MBA Program?

• Enthusiastically Recommend
• Recommend
• Recommend with reservations
• Do not recommend