Full-time MBA Week Zero is a no-holds-barred introduction to life at Haas. Part MBA-essentials boot camp, part immersion into Haas academic and student culture, and part bonding experience, the week is fast-paced, intense, and sometimes wacky.
Week Zero is organized by 2nd-year student leaders who—working closely with the program office and specialists throughout Haas—are able to pass on insights from their first year. This year's orientation was structured around the four Haas Defining Principles, with a different theme each day: Question the Status Quo, Confidence Without Attitude, Students Always and Beyond Yourself.
It's a culture that many incoming students already relate to. A recent admissions survey found that the school's culture and defining principles are the No. 1 reason full-time MBA students choose Haas.
“While the students at Haas are diverse on many fronts, I find that all of them share a concern for positively impacting others,” said Nahry Tak, who is returning to Berkeley after earning her bachelor’s in art history here and then working at the Trust for Public Land.
In addition to guest speakers, social mixers, and nuts-and-bolts orientation sessions, the week's activities included:
The week ended with a mixer with students in the evening & weekend MBA program.
“This program does an unbelievable job focusing on a student development from a personal and professional perspective,” said Reggie Davis, MBA 18. “You can go to any top business school to find a good job, but you come to Haas to find yourself and what drives you. Also, the students that I’ve met are the most talented, bright and self-aware people that I have ever come across.”