UC-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business doesn’t have freshmen or sophomores, and it’s the second-hardest B-school to get into among the 88 in our third annual ranking. UC-Berkeley photo
WORK STILL TO BE DONE IN URM POPULATION AT HAAS
Balingit says that RISE is a pre-admissions program that also provides students with information on each major. As a nursing major, Balingit says she wasn’t taught to take risks, instead she was pushed to take a linear path and do what her parents wanted her to do. It took her awhile to figure out that helping students was her calling, and even for students who are not drawn to the business school, she wants to them to know there’s a community for any major they choose, and they can do many things with a business major.
“As the business world becomes more intersectional with different areas and industries, like biotech, and ever-changing ecosystems, we need different types of students to come to Haas,” she says. “We received the highest number of applications last year, which increases the need to reach out to under-represented minority students. ”
In 2018, under-represented minority students comprised 12.4% of the UC-Berkeley applicant pool and 20.65% of the transfer applicants. The class of 359 includes 52 URM students, representing just 14.5% of the class. Out of the nearly 100 undergraduate business schools included in this year’s Poets&Quants Best Undergraduate Business Schools, dozens reported enrolling more minority students than Haas. Some 24 had at least 20% minorities enroll in this year’s class. According to current Census data, about 33% of the U.S. population currently identifies as African American, Hispanic, or Native American. In California, that rate is closer to 45%.
NOT BEING INTIMIDATED BY ONE OF THE TOUGHEST B-SCHOOLS TO GAIN ADMISSION
David Webb is a junior studying Business Administration at the Haas School of Business and City Planning at the College of Environmental Design. He first heard about RISE@Haas after he was initially admitted to the undergraduate business program. A close friend invited him to a RISE event for newly admitted under-represented minority students.
“As the day of the event arrived, I was terrified to attend — I felt like I didn’t belong at a school like Haas. Thankfully, I pushed myself to go. A handful of newly admitted and current URM Haas students attended the event — albeit there is little diversity at Haas anyway. We had a conversation about imposter syndrome at UC-Berkeley,” Webb says. “It was incredible because that was the first time I was ever given space to talk about my experiences with imposter syndrome and relate to other students as well. In short, it was truly a transformative experience.”
Balingit, who has been at UC-Berkeley for about five years now, and at Haas for a year, says many students have also shared that the admissions process of getting into one of the most selective business schools can feel daunting, especially if a student of color is also a first-generation college student. This is where RISE steps in to help students be prepared for situations that may be unexpected for them, creating a community so they can check in with others who have walked in their shoes.
“As a first-generation woman of color, I grew up feeling pressured to break all the barriers and that failure was never an option,” Diaz says. “However, the best successes we experience are built from the lessons of our failures. Hosting a conversation about embracing failure, taught me to practice self- compassion and to stray away from behavior that can damage my mental health.”
Of all the two-year undergraduate business programs, Haas is the most selective after students get into UC-Berkeley, with an acceptance rate of just 8.2%. Even after being accepted to UC-Berkeley as freshmen, students only have a bit better than a third of a chance of getting into Haas for their junior years. The next most selective two-year program is the business program at the University of North Carolina, which has a 14.3% acceptance rate.
“What I love about RISE is the people who support the programming. Berkeley RISE is made up of individuals that truly want to support growth and improve the sense of belonging to our community. We previously hosted a conversation about de-stigmatizing failure and the growth that can come from it,” Diaz says.
WORKING TO INCREASE DIVERSITY AND INITIATIVES AT HAAS
Webb is currently also on the student steering committee for RISE, and part of his work is to inform and execute some of the strategic diversity initiatives at Haas. He is also involved in the RISE mentorship program where he mentors three undergraduates from under-represented minority groups who are thinking about applying to the business school.
“Berkeley RISE has pushed me to explore my racial identity, engage in difficult conversations and become a proponent for change. RISE was the first time I was given space to talk about my racial experiences on-campus,” Webb says. “These conversations have allowed me to feel more comfortable with my identity and to change diversity within academic and professional environments. Within the student organizations I am involved with, I have started more discussions about diversity and inclusion. One of the most recent successes has been helping to create a more inclusive recruiting process for one of my professional student organizations.”
With increased discussion in the business world on the topics of diversity, representation, and inclusion, businesses today are looking to represent themselves as such since customers and audiences are more often looking to support brands that show they care about the issue.
In October 2018, Berkeley Haas held a Diversity Symposium where students, alumni, and staff came together to identify challenging diversity issues in the business community and brainstorm for solutions and ways to manage them. The theme that year was “Breaking The Mold.”
“We want to help our students navigate diverse paths and spaces, especially if they are students of color and need guidance,” Balingit says. “There’ll be the trickle-down effect and we believe the students will then help others learn to navigate complex spaces that they traditionally don’t see themselves in.”
RISE IS PROVIDING ‘SPACE TO EXPRESS OUR DIVERSITY’
Through RISE, who have had their lives changes by RISE are also spreading change through their work in other aspects of their lives.
Diaz says she has since stopped questioning her place at UC-Berkeley and has created the narrative for herself that she bring a unique perspective on things to the table when she is working with her classmates.
“There was a time where all my classmates were talking about managing a factory from the manager’s perspective and I contributed from my experience of being the child of a factory worker,” she says. “I’m different from the other students here, and when I point out behavior that is insensitive to minority students, I feel like I’m making it better for someone who has to walk in my shoes in future.”
Webb said that he has been incorporating some of the conversations from RISE into a club he launched for UC Berkeley called Incept@Berkeley that uses 17th century French intellectual salon framework and the diversity of the Cal student communities to bring together diverse students and discuss important issues.
“The best thing about RISE at Berkeley Haas is space: space to express our diversity and meet other diverse students,” Webb says. “Just the existence of this space is part of the reason I feel that I deserve a place at Haas.”
DON’T MISS: B-SCHOOLS ENROLLING THE MOST U.S. MINORITY STUDENTS or B-SCHOOLS WITH THE MOST FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS
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