How Tough is it to Transfer to Haas?

You are applying to Haas Business School, not general admissions, and the Haas requirements are brutal. Approx 2/3 of transfer applicants are ineligible right out the gate. Of the remaining one-third, about 18% are accepted.

A few things to know:

• You MUST complete all major requirements, even if you have to drive to China to do it.
• Your major requirements (biz course, calculus, Econ, English, quantitative reasoning) need to have stellar grades. They put a lot of weight on major course performance.
• Haas will not accept repeated courses for any major required course. So if you have a D in Calc 1 and repeat for an A, they will only factor in the D.
• To be competitive, you need exceptional extra-curricular activities, most notably those that relate to business, leadership, finance, non-profit, or the like.
• They put a lot of weight on the essays, especially the Haas supplemental essay that comes out in January. Not only does Haas admissions scrutinize content (focus on the Haas four defining principles), they also critique your writing style and communication skills.
• Average admitted GPA in 2014 was 3.84, as I recall.
• Biggest point of all: For about the last 10 years every single transfer admit save one has come from a CA community college. (Don’t know the 2015 stats.)