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As a top rated business program, the culture is very different from others. It reinforces morals and virtues and the emphasis of hard work, dedication and pride in everything we do. Because it is a public school, most students are from middle income families so the students as a whole are much more modest.

Haas does a great job of building strong relations with key employers in one of the biggest business markets in the entire world: San Francisco. The school does an excellent job at preparing their students for work in the business world, and perhaps more importantly, it focuses heavily on connecting its students with them.

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Haas is very diverse; the students come from immensely diverse backgrounds and have differing interests. We have students who want to go into nonprofit, fashion, finance, marketing, hi-tech, entrepreneurship and more; we have students who are from around the world and from a mix of family backgrounds, socio-economic levels, and lifestyles. This mix of individuals is incredibly powerful and unique, and brings eclectic views and conversations to our business education.

Haas's motto is "Leading through Innovation," and it certainly does just that. Haas bolsters entrepreneurship among the student body through the classes it offers and the organizations it sponsors. It also facilitates both internal and external case competitions to instill and encourage creativity among the students.

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Our business program focuses a lot on teamwork, as every business class I have ever encountered involves at least one major group project and various group discussions and weekly projects. Our business program also includes a lot of offerings involving using business for social causes, such as classes revolving around sustainability or corporate social responsibility or nonprofit management.

The amount of services we are offered is outstanding - we have the option to attend etiquette dinners, mock interviews, resume critique workshops, and drop-in or appointment advising group or one-on-one advising sessions. Employer info sessions are held regularly - usually one or two per week - and there are as several large career fairs. On-campus recruiting and preparation is definitely a major part of the Haas experience.

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I believe that a lot of my negative or average responses are products of the large class sizes. The smaller, more intimate classes at Haas were outstanding, and overall I highly value and appreciate my time here. That said, more should be done to reduce the size of core classes.

In my time at Haas, the business program has made significant improvements affecting the quality of the education. Class sizes have been dramatically reduced, grading has become more transparent, and administrators have dedicated numerous resources to preparing graduates for the difficult job market. I believe that such drastic improvements in such a short period of time are a testament to the excellence of the Haas business program.

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The Haas business program is unique because it provides students with an identity in a university that caters to more than 30,000 people. This is very important because it is so easy to feel "lost" within the general student body. Thus, being a part of Haas makes it easier to relate to individuals who share similar interests and to receive support services that far exceed the quality of those offered to the rest of the student body.

The Haas program succeeds in enabling students to gain experience outside of the classroom. Our student organizations are extremely popular and have proven to be the best gateways to full time employment. For instance, I am a member of The Berkeley Group, which provides pro-bono consulting services to nonprofit organizations. We have gained the reputation of being a group of highly motivated and hard working individuals; recruiters often come to us directly seeking qualified candidates. Additionally, Berkeley's proximity to San Francisco and Silicon Valley provide work opportunities that are harder to come by at other schools - especially in the fields of technology and entrepreneurship.

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The office does not really care about their students on a personal basis. It is very unorganized and changes its academic requirements by the year, which is confusing since you apply for Haas during your sophomore year. I've had friends waste units because they took a class that was taken off the accepted course work the next year. Every class in Haas curves grades so no more than 10% can receive an A, which leads to unnecessary competition in classes.

I feel the success of the business school is best measured by the quality of the firms that recruit from the program. An impressive cadre of top recruiters like the Big 4 accounting firms, bulge bracket investment banks, elite boutique investment banks, and top tier consulting firms come to Haas to recruit. Accounting, investment banking, and consulting are the most desirable industries that business students here are interested in (myself included) and given that all the best companies in those industries come to Haas to recruit, I'm very pleased with my experience.