Berkeley Haas wants to know the person behind the application. You need to share one story or one particular aspect of your personality that defines who you are. It could be a story that showcases your values and beliefs, a life changing experience, any professional success or failure that offered you eye opening lessons, an event from your childhood that left an indelible mark on your soul and so on. You can also narrate a story that shows your passion on any broader issues such as global warming, sustainability, poverty, literacy, or pollution that you deeply care about.
You can also talk about your leadership persona in order to explain who you are as a human being. Are you a leader who leads from the front or you enjoy delegating responsibilities to your team? Are you an agenda setter or a consensus builder? Do you focus more on the bottom-line of the business or on the welfare of your colleagues and customers? Are you a team worker or an excellent individual contributor? Are you a workaholic or a firm believer of work-life balance? Contemplate on these aspects of your personality to find out who you are; thereafter write an excellent essay.
The objective of asking this question is to comprehend what you are going to contribute to the diverse classroom of Berkeley Haas. Who are you as a leader and how can you help your peers at Haas to grow? Are you a machine learning enthusiast or a data analytics junkie? Do you have in-depth knowledge of real estate investment or how AI is going to disrupt the job market? Are you an ex Navy Seal who has excellent skills for careful planning and meticulous implementations? Or, are you a risk taking entreprenuer who has scaled great heights in his career and can explain to others how to conquer fear? Are you managing a department in a global MNC who is highly skilled to resolve inter-departmental rivalries and interpersonal conflicts? Are you a global warming hawk who has joined a nonprofit to spread awareness among youth on climate change?
So, the question boils down to who you are and how can you educate / inspire your peers to achieve greatness.
Think deeply, write eloquently and edit professionally to tell your story in just 150 words.
This essay means additional work for the adcom, so choose to do it only if you truly have something more to say that will add to your admission prospects, or remove possible doubts about you. For instance, perhaps there is an unexplained six-month gap between your first and second jobs. You wouldn’t like to create the impression that you remained unemployed during this period, and so you use this opportunity to explain what really happened: You are a travel buff; you love to explore the world, and learn about people and places. You saved up money from your first job to visit South East Asia and the Far East, in the course of which you even did a stint as a volunteer in China teaching English to the Chinese. In fact, you have also picked up some Chinese.
You can be sure that, like an alchemist turning lead to gold, you will, by your account, transform any negative impact your six-month gap may have created to a very favourable assessment of your personality!
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Politicians have speech writers. Journalists use news editors. Famous writers and columnists have an army of professional editors. Don’t you think you also need to have one?