Student Perspectives

An MBA builds your business skills to be as strong as your other skills

After 13 years in the Marine Corps and, afterwards, several years as a chef and an entrepreneur, I felt that I’d developed strong leadership and organizational management skills, but that my business knowledge lagged. I’m pursuing the MBA so that my business acumen matches my leadership experience.

Being a person who likes to move between industries, the MBA also creates opportunities and opens doors to make it easier for me to have a varied professional experience throughout my career.

An EMBA with core values that speak to military vets

While I considered other top tier programs, it was the Defining Leadership Principles that really sold me on Haas. Coming from a military background where core values are very real and tangible beacons, I was really impressed at how these principles are embodied in everything, from the culture, to how the faculty, administration, and student body interact with each other, and finally to how the principles shape the leaders that ultimately graduate from the school.

Haas EMBA: A program that offers flexibility and forges strong relationships

I didn’t want to put my entire life on hold to attend a full-time program. The EMBA program schedule meant that I could live and work in San Diego, while still studying for an MBA in a top program.

One of my worries in doing an executive program was that we would miss out on some camaraderie. I’m happy to say this was completely unfounded, in large part because of the residency, which means that we work, eat, and play together as a cohort whenever we’re in school. I’ve developed a bunch of lifelong friends during this program.

Being a dreamer and a doer with an MBA

I’ve never been surrounded by such a diverse, intelligent, and accomplished group of peers at one time in my life. Coming to Haas has shown me that dreaming and doing are not mutually exclusive. Every day my classmates dream up fantastic ideas, and then turn around and bring them to life.

I used tools from my finance class immediately at work to evaluate and prioritize potential projects that were competing for the same resources. While some of my peers were arguing for specific projects based on an emotional preference, I was able to make recommendations to senior management that were backed up by calculations on which projects would be the most profitable for the company, and on what timelines.

I’ve always considered leadership one of my strengths, but I’ve found methods through this program that make me much more effective at drawing out the individual strengths of those within a diverse team. This has led to a marked improvement not only in team performance, but also in the quality of the work that we do every day.

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