
Essays
Essays help us learn about who you are as a person and how you will add to our community. We seek candidates from a broad range of industries, backgrounds, cultures, and lived experiences.
Our distinctive culture is defined by four key principles - Question the Status Quo, Confidence Without Attitude, Students Always, and Beyond Yourself. We encourage you to reflect on your experiences, values, and passions so that you may craft thoughtful and authentic responses that demonstrate your alignment with our principles.
Below are the required essays, supplemental essays, and optional essays for the Fall 2025-2026 application cycle.
What makes you feel alive when you are doing it, and why?
You will be able to test your audio-visual connection before recording. Video essays should last 1-2 minutes and may not exceed 2 minutes. You have two (2) attempts to record your video essay.
What are your short-term and long-term career goals, and how will an MBA from Haas help you achieve those goals?
Short-term career goals should be achievable within 3-5 years post-MBA, whereas long-term goals may span a decade or more and encompass broader professional aspirations.
(300 words max)
Distance Traveled
At Berkeley Haas, we consider "distance traveled" as the contextual information that helps us understand the unique circumstances, challenges, or influences that have shaped your personal and professional journey.
We invite you to share aspects of your background, personal circumstances, or significant experiences that have meaningfully impacted who you are today and how you've reached this point. Please tell us how these experiences have influenced your perspectives, decisions, and aspirations, and how they contribute to the person you are becoming. (300 words max)
Optional Statement
This section should only be used to convey relevant information not addressed elsewhere in your application. This may include explanation of employment gaps, academic aberrations, supplemental coursework, etc. You are encouraged to use bullet points where appropriate. (300 words max)
- If you have not provided a letter of recommendation from your current supervisor, please explain. If not applicable, enter N/A.
- List, in order of importance, significant community and professional organizations and extracurricular activities in which you have been involved during or after university studies. Include the following information for each using the format below:
- Name of organization or activity
- Nature of organization or activity
- Size of organization
- Dates of involvement
- Offices held
- Average number of hours spent per week
- List full-time and part-time jobs held during undergraduate or graduate studies indicating the employer, job title, employment dates, location, and the number of hours worked per week for each position held prior to the completion of your degree.
- If you have ever been subject to academic discipline, placed on probation, suspended, or required to withdraw from any college or university, please explain. If not, please enter N/A. (An affirmative response to this question does not automatically disqualify you from admission.)

Extracurricular Supplement Tips
Cindy Jennings Millette, Senior Associate Director of Full-time Admissions, shares how we evaluate extracurricular and community involvement.
Watching video: Extracurricular Supplement Tips
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The Haas Full-time MBA is our flagship offering, designed to give students the tools to become leaders and earn their MBAs. Learn from world-renowned faculty as well as our truly global cohort of students. All this in the heart of Silicon Valley.