Haas Student Comments on Largest Class of Women
Haas School of Business student Ryann Kopacka, MBA ’16, shares her experience of what it is like to be in a class with 43 percent women. This is part one of a three part blog series from Haas about the large percentage of women who are attending the school in the class of 2016.
In this first part of the blog series, Kopacka shares her experience as a newly admitted MBA student at Haas. She shares how the community of women at Haas immediately reached out to her and offered a warm welcome made her feel like she was part of the Haas family before she had even accepted the offer to attend.
Kopacka writes:
“There is something different about Haas this school year. It is not the hum of construction for the new building, nor is it the addition of sushi in the café. There are more WOMEN!
The incoming Full-Time Berkeley MBA Class of 2016 boasts 43 percent women, the highest in the business school’s history and the highest reported among its peers. I am even more impressed by the leap of 14 percentage points from the previous class and the increase in average GMAT score.
After I received an exciting phone call earlier this year from Assistant Dean Stephanie Fujii offering me admission, the Haas community continued to reach out to me. Erin Kellerhals, now executive director of FTMBA Admissions, called to welcome me to Haas and offered a listening ear at any time. I also got a call from fellow-East-Coaster Akilah Huguley, MBA 15 and vice president of admissions for her class, who asked if I had any questions or concerns about moving west.
When I attended Days at Haas for new admits, Eliza Rosenbaum from the Class of 2014 spoke at the Women in Leadership breakfast about her decision to attend Haas. Eliza was open about her experience moving from her home in New York to Berkeley. I felt like she was talking right to me.
The common thread in these touch points was that the Haas community of women was genuinely interested in getting to know me, and in helping me gather the information I needed to make my decision. I am most impressed with the confidence among the Haas community, interlaced with an openness to new ideas and a concern about the well-being of others.”
Find more information on class profiles of top-ranked MBA programs in San Francisco from MetroMBA here.
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About the Author
Erin Purcell
Staff Writer, covering MetroMBA's news beat for New York, Philadelphia, and Boston.
