TIPS FOR HAAS’ ESSAY #1: “WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL ALIVE?”
The Berkeley Haas MBA application deadline is around the corner. Before you write and review a single essay, you have to take stock of their overarching instructions. Read Why Defining Berkeley Haas' Four "Key Principles" is so Important. Once you have these four principles as your guiding star, you can get into Haas essay one:
HAAS ESSAY #1 – What makes you feel alive when you are doing it, and why? (300 words maximum)
This Haas essay has gone from “what are you most passionate about” to “what gives you the greatest joy” even to “choose a song that best represents you”. The reason for this is probably because business school applicants are slavishly devoted to connecting passion with work. The joy/passion/personal interest idea has momentum in business school circles – although it’s never quite taken on this kind of wording.
Haas is unique in how short the question is – 300 words. These kinds of essays end up reading pretty frilly. So, it’s best you must be efficient in this essay. It would be easy to fall into the trap of picking something funny, ironic, clever, or otherwise ridiculous. However, the truth is you have too much to say in this relatively short application to waste any space.
The key is to make sure you hit two things in this type of essay:
Showcase an authentic passion of some kind.
Build a platform for your long-term goal.
To clarify, you don’t want to talk about work. And Haas is pushing MBA applicants to stay away from that subject too. But there is a difference between talking about “work” (in other words your job and job responsibilities that you currently do today) and your grand career vision for the future. The thing you want to do 25 years from now. This will be the culmination of your life’s work. And this should be rooted in something that defines you (whether a song, motto, experience, or feeling “alive”).
Long-term goals are about drawing a swooping arc back to the things you are most passionate about. An MBA and your short-term goals certainly help build out the platform for those longer-term goals, but where you really put down an anchor is with your passion.