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Quick Answer:
The Berkeley Haas MBA essays are designed to test whether you’re a genuine fit with the school’s values — not just your writing skills. For 2026, you’ll answer a video essay about what makes you feel alive when you’re doing it and why, a career goals essay explaining your short- and long-term plans and how Haas will help you, and a “distance traveled” essay that gives context to your background and challenges.
To write standout Berkeley Haas MBA essays:
- Ground each response in specific stories.
- Show how you live at least 1 of Haas’s 4 Defining Leadership Principles.
- Connect your personal and professional trajectory clearly to what’s unique about Haas.
Haas’s MBA program has a competitive admissions process, so keep reading for detailed Haas MBA essay tips!
Here are the topics we’ll cover:
- Why the Berkeley Haas MBA Essays Matter
- Overview of the 2026 Berkeley Haas MBA Essays
- Required Essay #1 — Video Essay
- How Haas’s Four Defining Leadership Principles Shape the Essays
- Berkeley Haas Video Essay: “What Makes You Feel Alive?”
- How to Brainstorm Powerful Topics for the “Alive” Essay
- Structuring Your “What Makes You Feel Alive” Response
- Common Mistakes to Avoid in the Haas Video Essay
- Berkeley Haas Goals Essay: Career Vision and Haas Fit
- How to Define Short-Term and Long-Term Goals for Haas
- Tying Your Goals Specifically to Berkeley Haas Resources
- The Haas “Distance Traveled” Essay Explained
- How to Choose the Right Story for the Distance Traveled Essay
- How to Show Fit with Haas Across All of Your Essays
- Examples of Themes that Work Well for Berkeley Haas MBA Essays
- Final Editing Checklist for Your Berkeley Haas MBA Essays
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- What’s Next?
Why the Berkeley Haas MBA Essays Matter
The Berkeley Haas MBA essays aren’t meant to assess your strengths as a writer. Instead, they enable the admissions committee to determine whether you’ll thrive at Haas.
As you may know, Haas’s culture is built around 4 Defining Leadership Principles:
- Question the Status Quo
- Confidence Without Attitude
- Student Always
- Beyond Yourself
Haas has a small MBA cohort and prides itself on its values-driven brand. Therefore, the essays (including the new video essay and the “distance traveled” essay) help the admissions committee learn:
- who you really are — beyond your resume, achievements, and test scores
- how your past experiences reflect Haas’s Defining Leadership Principles
- how an MBA will help you advance your career and leadership goals
If you want to stand out in the admissions process, your responses will need to be thoughtful and detailed. Specifically, you’ll need to share anecdotes, communicate a strong fit with Berkeley Haas’s MBA program, and discuss why this is the right MBA for you.
Overview of the 2026 Berkeley Haas MBA Essays
For the full-time MBA program, the UC Berkeley Haas application essays for 2026 are as follows:
Required Essay #1 — Video Essay
What makes you feel alive when you are doing it, and why?
You will be able to test your audio-visual connection before recording. Video essays should last 1-2 minutes and may not exceed 2 minutes. You have two (2) attempts to record your video essay.
Required Essay #2 — Career Goals
What are your short-term and long-term career goals, and how will an MBA from Haas help you achieve those goals?
Short-term career goals should be achievable within 3-5 years post-MBA, whereas long-term goals may span a decade or more and encompass broader professional aspirations.
(300 words max)
Supplemental “Distance Traveled” Essay
At Berkeley Haas, we consider “distance traveled” as the contextual information that helps us understand the unique circumstances, challenges, or influences that have shaped your personal and professional journey.
We invite you to share aspects of your background, personal circumstances, or significant experiences that have meaningfully impacted who you are today and how you’ve reached this point. Please tell us how these experiences have influenced your perspectives, decisions, and aspirations, and how they contribute to the person you are becoming.
(300 words max)
Optional Essay
This section should only be used to convey relevant information not addressed elsewhere in your application. This may include explanation of employment gaps, academic aberrations, supplemental coursework, etc. You are encouraged to use bullet points where appropriate.
(300 words max)
In this guide, we’ll talk about how the Berkeley Haas MBA essays showcase various aspects of your candidacy. Specifically, we’ll cover best practices for creating the video, how to approach the Haas career goals essay, additional context for the Haas “distanced traveled” essay, and what you can cover in the optional essay.
TTP PRO TIP:
The Berkeley Haas MBA essays are concise, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy.
How Haas’s Four Defining Leadership Principles Shape the Essays
Haas’s MBA admissions committee shares that the program’s culture is defined by 4 principles:
- Question the Status Quo: Challenge conventional thinking, take smart risks, and drive innovation.
- Confidence Without Attitude: Make decisions based on proof, show humility, and collaborate with empathy, inclusion, and trust.
- Students Always: Be curious, seek out diverse perspectives, and adopt a growth mindset.
- Beyond Yourself: Lead ethically and responsibly, take a long-term view, and prioritize the common good.
In the Haas MBA application, your job is not to simply repeat what you read about these principles. Instead, you need to show how you’ve lived these concepts in action through your experiences.
For example:
- Video essay: Share a passion or interest that shows your curiosity, impact, or ability to think differently.
- Goals essay: Describe a career vision that is not just realistic and achievable but also shares your commitment to responsible leadership or innovation.
- Distance traveled essay: Discuss how your lived experience has shaped your values, showcased your empathy, and built your resilience.
Before diving in, brainstorm a few examples of each Defining Leadership Principle from your own experiences. That way, you have a strong list of anecdotes to choose from when you start outlining each of your essays.
TTP PRO TIP:
Map your experiences to Haas’s Defining Leadership Principles to start your brainstorming process.
Berkeley Haas Video Essay: “What Makes You Feel Alive?”
As a reminder, the Berkeley Haas video essay 2026 asks:
“What makes you feel alive when you are doing it, and why?”
It’s no mistake that video is the format for this essay. Specifically, video enables Haas’s admissions committee to see:
- how you communicate spontaneously
- your energy and authenticity when you talk about something you care about
- whether your passion connects to your potential contribution to the Haas community
Take note: the Haas video doesn’t assess your ability to edit video or act. Instead, it tests your self-awareness, communication style, and authenticity.
KEY FACT:
The Haas video assesses your self-awareness, communication style, and authenticity — not your video editing or acting skills.
How to Brainstorm Powerful Topics for the “Alive” Essay
Before formalizing your response, start by brainstorming. Specifically, ask yourself:
- When have I been so engaged with something that I lost track of time?
- Which activities do I eagerly spend time on or volunteer for — even when I’m tired?
- When have others noted that I light up when talking about a particular activity?
Here are some Haas MBA essay examples and ideas that can kickstart your process:
- Building something from scratch — launching an initiative, a side business or a product, or forming a community
- Teaching and mentoring — training or helping others at your company, helping someone in your personal pursuits, or coaching a team
- Solving challenging problems — leveraging your skills to dive deep into an analysis, build a new process, or create a product strategy
- Driving impact — making a difference at work, in your community, or in the life of another person
- Using your creativity — expressing yourself through music, art, or even sports
However, avoid these issues:
- Being too generic — vague stories about “helping people” don’t land without specifics
- Talking about your job — unless it’s something unique, your job not often something that helps you “feel alive”
- Flaunting your ego — using the essay to build up an achievement
Explore topics that show who you are, rather than what you do. In fact, some of the most interesting “Alive” essays discuss personal passions.
Explore topics that show who you are, rather than what you do.
Structuring Your “What Makes You Feel Alive” Response
Even though this “essay” is actually a video, your response must be organized effectively. So, take time to create a 6–90-second mini-story:
Consider this framework:
- Hook (1–2 sentences): Start with an engaging line that drops the viewer right into the experience.
- Specific example (30–45 seconds): Provide context on where you were, what you were doing, and how you felt in the moment.
- Why it matters (20–30 seconds): Reflect on what this example reveals about your values, motivations, or leadership style, as applicable.
- Conclusion (1 sentence): Connect your response to how you’ll show up at Haas.
Additionally, it’s helpful to write an outline and a loose script to help you prepare. Obviously, you’ll need to practice your response. However, you should aim for a warm, conversational, and natural tone.
Practice, practice, practice, and record yourself! By reviewing the recording, you’ll spot ways to improve your delivery for the real recording.
TTP PRO TIP:
Practice often and record yourself so you can spot what works and what doesn’t.
Common Mistakes to Avoid in the Haas Video Essay
As we’ve discussed, Haas’s video essay is an opportunity to share your authentic self with the MBA admissions committee. However, you should take steps to avoid these common mistakes:
- Reading a script verbatim: If your response sounds too robotic, you won’t communicate when you were truly “alive.” So, practice from a loose script or outline, but avoid the temptation to read word-for-word.
- Trying to impress: The goal of this exercise is not to discuss an achievement that could be found elsewhere in your application. Instead, focus on your feelings and passion from the anecdote you’re sharing.
- Now answering the full question: Don’t forget to talk about “why” this particular passion or activity made you feel alive. Remember, “What makes you feel alive” is just the first part of the question.
- Ignoring Haas’s 4 principles: Don’t force a connection to Haas’s principles. However, you can communicate in a way that aligns with some of the values, including humility, curiosity, and/or impact.
- Using a bad setup: Make sure that your computer’s camera works and that your lighting is strong. Additionally, confirm that your sound works and that you’ll have no distractions when filming your response.
TTP PRO TIP:
After practicing and recording your response, get feedback from a friend or trusted advisor on where you can make improvements.
Berkeley Haas Goals Essay: Career Vision and Haas Fit
The Haas career goals essay asks:
“What are your short-term and long-term career goals, and how will an MBA from Haas help you achieve those goals?”
Therefore, the MBA admissions committee wants to see:
- an achievable short-term post-MBA goal
- a long-term vision that’s ambitious, but stems from your short-term goals
- an understanding of how the MBA will fill gaps in your skills and experiences
- specific ways that Berkeley Haas resources will help you achieve your short- and long-term goals
Haas’s career essay is a classic goals + “Why MBA” and “Why Haas” essay. So, you can likely repurpose similar content from other applications, while adding specific examples from Haas’s curriculum, programming, and resources.
TTP PRO TIP:
Strong Haas goals essays connect realistic post-MBA plans to specific Haas resources.
How to Define Short-Term and Long-Term Goals for Haas
Here’s how you can outline your goals for Haas’s second essay:
- Start from your past and lead to the present: Articulate what you’re doing today and what you’ve learned. Then, highlight what you want to do next.
- Define a specific short-term goal: Discuss your target role, function, industry, and geography. Additionally, highlight a couple of target organizations or companies.
- Share a values-driven long-term vision: Talk about where you hope to be in 10–15 years. If applicable, tie this to the Beyond Yourself principle, sharing the broader impact you hope to have.
This is just a framework to help you get started. However, you can articulate your goals in whichever order makes sense for your story.
Tying Your Goals Specifically to Berkeley Haas Resources
Your Berkeley Haas MBA essays, particularly your career goals essay, must link specific resources and programs to your goals.
Here are some of the resources you might consider when building your case for Haas’s MBA:
- courses that will help you build a stronger foundation in technical skills or industry knowledge
- experiential learning programs that will help you gain functional or industry-specific experience
- centers and institutes that are aligned with your career goals
- clubs and other extracurricular activities that are aligned to your professional and developmental goals
- the UC Berkeley ecosystem, environment, and broader geography that will facilitate connections and build your network
Make sure that your Haas career essay is specific enough to Haas that it could not be submitted for any other top MBA program.
Chat with at least 3–4 current Haas students to learn more about how Haas can help with your career and leadership goals.
TTP PRO TIP:
If your career essay could be reused elsewhere, it isn’t Haas-specific enough.
The Haas “Distance Traveled” Essay Explained
Haas’s “distance traveled” essay asks you to provide information about the context and challenges behind your journey to date. Specifically, this may include details about your social, economic, and cultural upbringing and experiences.
Here are a few points to consider:
- “Distance traveled” isn’t just about hardship and challenges; it can also discuss your trajectory and growth to date.
- You might share information about your family background, immigration or first-generation status, gender identity, or other major life experiences, if applicable.
- The admissions committee is just providing you with an opportunity to share experiences or context that will help them understand where you’re coming from — not just where you are today.
This essay is another opportunity to showcase your fit with the Berkeley Haas MBA program and its emphasis on inclusion, empathy, and leadership beyond yourself, if it applies to you and your experiences.
TTP PRO TIP:
“Distance traveled” isn’t limited to hardship; it can also highlight how you’ve grown and progressed over time.
How to Choose the Right Story for the Distance Traveled Essay
If you’re not sure where to start, here are a few questions to ask yourself:
- Where did I start — socially, financially, academically, geographically — and where am I now?
- What types of structural or personal obstacles have I faced in my professional and personal life to date (for example, systemic barriers, language, finances, caretaking, etc.)?
- Which decisions or actions have shown my resilience and values?
Strong Haas MBA essay examples for this prompt might include:
- growing up in a low-income household or rural community and navigating your way to higher education and a competitive career
- being the first in your family to attend college and navigating the application process and experience
- undertaking significant family responsibilities while studying full-time or working full-time
- migrating across countries and cultures or rebuilding your career and network from the ground up
- overcoming setbacks, such as layoffs, failed businesses, or major life disruptions — and what you learned from them
While there is a lot of leeway in this essay, here are some of the things you might want to avoid:
- trauma-dumping without discretion or reflection
- listing every challenge you’ve faced; instead, pick a couple of examples and trends
- sharing examples that always portray you as a victim, rather than someone who made intentional decisions
This can be a challenging essay, and it’s sometimes difficult to know when to share and when not to over-share. If you’re in doubt, engage one of TTP’s experienced MBA admissions consultants for detailed guidance on your strategy.
TTP PRO TIP:
The Distance Traveled prompt can be challenging, especially when you’re deciding how much personal detail to share.
How to Show Fit with Haas Across All of Your Essays
To demonstrate your true fit with the Berkeley Haas MBA program, identify consistent throughlines across your experiences, rather than assessing each essay individually.
Specifically:
- Pick 2–3 core values.
- Ensure that at least 1 of Haas’s 4 Defining Leadership Principles appears meaningfully in each response.
- Use similar themes in each essay. For example, bring consistent passion to your video essay, the same impact focus to your goals essay, and the same thread of resilience in your distance traveled essay.
Also, consider how your essays support your other application materials, namely the:
- resume
- recommendations
- interview narrative
Finally, your application should read like a cohesive story — not a collage of unrelated examples.
TTP PRO TIP:
While your Haas application should have some cohesion, each essay does not have to communicate the exact same theme.
Examples of Themes that Work Well for Berkeley Haas MBA Essays
Without sharing full Haas essay examples, here are some example themes that generally align well with the Berkeley Haas culture and values:
- Impact-driven innovation: for example, using data to improve access to financial or healthcare services for underserved populations
- Ethical leadership in new contexts: for instance, advocating for responsible use of AI or fair labor practices, even if it might impact your company’s bottom line
- Challenging the status quo: for example, standing up for inclusive practices or redesigning biased hiring practices
- Lifelong learning: for instance, embracing a career transition, self-driven learning, or side projects
- Community building beyond yourself: for example, creating an employee resource group, mentoring under-resourced junior colleagues, or leading volunteer initiatives
As you develop your essay drafts, ask yourself: Could this same story be told for any program, or does it communicate why I belong at Haas? If it’s too generic, keep working!
Final Editing Checklist for Your Berkeley Haas MBA Essays
Before you hit submit on your Berkeley Haas MBA application, run through this list:
Content and strategy:
- Does each essay clearly answer the entire prompt?
- Do each of your essays reinforce a coherent story?
- Have you illustrated at least 1 of Haas’s 4 Defining Leadership Principles in each essay?
- Are your short- and long-term goals specific, achievable, and connected to resources at Haas?
- Does your Distance Traveled essay give meaningful context, rather than a list of challenges?
Voice and authenticity:
- Have you read your responses out loud?
- Do you sound like yourself — not a robot or AI?
- Are your Haas MBA essay examples concrete and detailed?
- Have you shown some vulnerability and growth?
Fit for Haas:
- Could these essays only be written for Berkeley Haas and not any other top MBA program?
- Have you named specific UC Berkeley Haas application resources and clubs that are tied to your goals?
- Have you avoided generic cliches about Haas’s program (that could be true of any other MBA program)?
Logistics:
- Are each of your responses within the word count limit?
- Have you checked for — and fixed — grammar and spelling errors?
- Have you provided necessary context in the optional essay?
Once you’ve reviewed and revised essential aspects of your application and run through this checklist, prepare to submit!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Can I reuse material from other schools’ essays in my Berkeley Haas MBA essays?
Maybe. Often, you can adapt content regarding your career goals or personal stories for Haas.
However, these should be unique to Haas:
- The “What makes you feel alive” video must be created and tailored to Haas.
- Any “Why Haas” content must refer to specific examples from the Haas MBA program.
Therefore, you can reuse raw stories and goals. Ultimately, your fit must be specific to the program, community, and culture at Haas.
How important is the new video essay compared with the written essays?
The Berkeley Haas video essay 2026 is a core component of your application. Specifically, this essay shares:
- your personality and communication style
- the tone with which you talk and write
- evidence of your comfort with spontaneous speaking
So, treat this essay as though it’s equally important as the written essays — because it is!
How long should I spend preparing and practicing the Haas video essay?
You don’t need to practice for weeks and months. However, you do need to allocate time for thoughtful prep and practice. Here’s a reasonable approach:
- Allocate 1-2 hours to brainstorming and choosing your topic.
- Spend 2-4 hours outlining your script and refining your key points.
- Practice for 1-2 hours and adjust for time.
- Allow 15-30 minutes to set up your space and record the real thing.
The goal for this essay is to be prepared but to come across naturally — not overly polished and rehearsed. Ultimately, authenticity matters more than word-perfect performance.
How do international applicants stand out in the Berkeley Haas essays?
International applicants can stand out in the Berkeley Haas application process by:
- highlighting cross-cultural experiences and how they shaped who you are
- explaining any “distance traveled” related to immigration, language, and opportunity
- communicating your global perspective with Haas’s culture
- sharing how you’ll contribute to the cohort and community
If your background and experience need additional context, use the Haas optional essay to provide more information.
What’s Next?
If you’re serious about applying to — and attending — Haas, we can help! Book a free consultation with an experienced admissions consultant today.
