The Berkeley-Haas EMBA: Turning ‘Advancers’ Into ‘Switchers’

The EMBA team having some fun at Autodesk during Applied Innovation Week. Courtesy photo

The EMBA team having some fun at Autodesk during Applied Innovation Week. Photo by Jim Block

P&Q: Does this influx have anything to do with Steve Blank and the lean startup’s influence on Haas?

Rielly: For this program it’s been more about Toby Stuart, Maura O’Neill, Drew Isaacs, Don Proctor, several professors who support Independent Study, and the Lester Center. Toby really got it started, and gets it started for each new cohort. He also teaches an advanced entrepreneurship course which, alongside Maura’s advanced new venture finance course, allows our most interested students to go deep. And they are both incredibly available to our EMBAs, through Independent Study and more informally, as are all of our faculty. The faculty and resource support to our EMBAs, as they go down this road, has been impressive.

P&Q: Are applications and enrollment increasing, decreasing, or remaining flat at Haas?

Rielly: We have targets each year and have exceeded those targets each year. Our sweet spot is in the high 60s. So, I’d say above target and stable.

P&Q: So have applications increased as the program establishes itself?

Rielly: Yes, as we’ve become more known, the number of applications has grown. We’re not eligible for the popular rankings yet, since most of the rankings want to see alums and how they are doing professionally a couple years after the program. We’re ranked ninth by the U.S. News, which is amazing for a new programbut I question that ranking. We are absolutely a top five program. My point is a lot of students are driven by rankings and I can’t wait until we’re eligible.

In the meantime, we rely on marketing, our admissions team, word-of-mouth from current students, and campus visits to spread the word about our program. And we encourage all of our applicants to come to campus and get to know the program, faculty, current students, and yes the vibe. We encourage them to do this with the other schools they are considering, as well. A top EMBA program is a significant amount of time, energy and money, and we want them to get to know each program well so they can go where they fit. Again, we have a lot of confidence in who we are—as does our competition—and we all want applicants to make the right choice.

P&Q: Are your students looking to the career services office for career help?

Rielly: They are. We have the folks within CMG, our Career Management Group, who are 100% dedicated to our working professional students, and to our alums by the way. We introduce them early and they work closely together over the next 19 months and beyond.

One of the things we created very intentionally when we launched the new program is a diverse program office, one that would resonate with our most professionally experienced student population. Our EMBA staff comes from the private sector, social work, entrepreneurship, and of course academics. We are a team of nine, with significant professional and academic experience, and we are viewed by our executive population as experienced and trusted advisors.

And our alumni network is all about hiring Haas, and otherwise helping our executive level professionals.

So, It’s a strong partnership among CMG, the program office, and alumni relations, in terms of providing career help to our EMBAs.

P&Q: Who or what factors are your program’s primary competitors?

Rielly: Who is fairly obvious, since a significant percentage of our applicants are Bay Area residents—about two thirds. So we tend to compete with other top programs on the West Coast, like Wharton and sometimes UCLA. Two of our recent and current students from Seattle were considering Chicago Booth of all places. Apparently it’s just as easy to get to Chicago from Seattle as it is to the Bay Area, and that was influencing the decision. But mostly our competition is on the West Coast.

The what though, is tougher. Probably stage of life, if that makes sense. This is the age when an individual who wants to accelerate their career, or pivot, could also be considering other aspects of life, like starting a family. So we are competing with stage of life.

P&Q: How do you see the EMBA market changing in the next five to 10 years?

Rielly: I think we all have to continue talking about our value and what we provide. We all need to articulate why an EMBA program brings value above and beyond the competition, including stage of life.

We are going to continue emphasizing the unique characteristics of our program. Our defining principles. Our promise to graduate leaders who are equipped to deliver innovation at scale. Our blend of core, electives, immersions, resources, community, on campus experience and alumni network, and improving upon those offerings and allowing the applicants to understand what that means when they are considering us versus who or what.

P&Q: If you could make one thing happen in the EMBA marketplace, what would it be?

Rielly: Making the EMBA proposition more attractive to executive women. All of us in this industry wish our percentages were higher.  At Haas, we are blessed to have a wonderful population of women in the ’14, ’15, and ‘16 cohorts, and we are actively seeking their help in understanding the proposition in general and, in particular, how to make the Berkeley-Haas experience more attractive for them.

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