Berkeley Haas and the EW program want you to succeed in your studies. We offer a multitude of resources to help you along the way.
Academic Cohort Representatives ("ACRs") & Social Cohort Representatives ("SCRs") - First year
Blue: Joshua Pollack (academic), Akshay Thakur (academic), Josh Sheil (social)
Gold: Shailee Thaker (academic), Apurva Padhye (academic), Ramya Gogineni (social), George Pradhan (social)
Axe: Kyle Cook (academic), Anna Lee (academic), Allie Oosta (social), Vahid Amani (social)
Oski: Jon Utz (academic), Varun Bhardwaj (academic), Ilya Klimanov (social), Adam Boostrom (social)
Class of 2020 Emeriti:
Blue: Monica Armand, Ryan Colligan, Rahul Peravali, Kabilan Mahendran
Gold: Elena Cryst, Venketesh Iyer, Kersta Gustafson, Shannon Elliott
Axe: Debraj Sinha, Tao Yang, Prerit Uppal, Enrique Seara
Oski: Kristy Kim, Andrew Price, Neha Ruikar, Andrea Schiller
Student involvement, especially around providing feedback on our academic learning culture, is critical to making Haas a great place to learn.
We’ve created the ACR and SCR positions (two of each role for each of the four cohorts) to lead this effort. The cohort reps will be the key points of contact for the cohort, faculty and EWMBA Program Office around academics and student experience.
We are seeking individuals who are willing to go beyond themselves to serve as cohort reps. Specific responsibilities and commitments include:
- Serving in the role for the first two semesters of the Class of 2021’s tenure
- Attending a training session in August as well as ongoing monthly enrichment events
- Being timely and responsive to academic issues raised by professors, classmates and the Program Office
- Administering the mid-semester review and final course evaluation (ACRs)
- Acting as the liaison between your cohort classmates and your professors
- Dedication to continuously improve the Haas experience for your classmates and follow on classes
- Enthusiasm
- Commitment to helping others
- Willingness to be visible to your classmates
- Ability to present problems in a clear and non-judgmental way
- Follow through
Given the visibility and leadership of this role, we’d like for you to fill out a brief application. Applications are due on Sunday, August 5 by 11:59 PM. Academic cohort representatives will be chosen by the EW Program Office. Interviews will take place in mid-August. Social cohort representatives will be voted on by the cohort in mid-August. All selected candidates will be notified via email shortly thereafter.
Thank you for going beyond yourself!
Class Representatives ("Class Reps") - Second and third years
Class representatives are the foundation of student representation. They serve as an important conduit of student opinion between the classroom and the professor as well as the classroom and the program office (via the VPs of Academics). This can be positive feedback on aspects that work well and might be shared as best practices. This can also be concerns about issues that negatively affect the student academic experience.
They function as a “first line of defense” for student issues. Class reps ensure that faculty and staff are continually listening to and engaging with students to improve the student experience
Core courses typically have two class reps while smaller elective courses have one.
They are chosen any number of ways including:
-
- student volunteers
- class holds a vote
- professor choice
We recommend that this is done on the first day of class.
- Administer Mid-Semester Review: This is done around the course’s halfway point. 15 minutes at the beginning or end of class is allocated to this important task. The professor will step out of the room and the class rep conducts an “audit” via a short survey of 3 open-ended questions. They then schedule a meeting with the professor to provide feedback.
- Administer Final Evaluation: Sometime before the final week, discuss with the professor the best day to administer the final course evaluation. The evaluation is electronic and instructions will be sent to the professor.
- Act as Liaison Between Students and Professor: The class rep’s role as a liaison to the professor is typically announced in class. Making contact with the professor early in the class seems to facilitate smooth resolutions of student concerns. The class rep’s primary role is to voice student concerns with the professor–with promises of confidentiality, if necessary. Throughout this process, class reps will be in touch with the EWMBAA VPs of Academics, who may provide further guidance and also escalate concerns through other channels.
- Enthusiasm
- Commitment to helping others
- Willingness to be visible to your classmates
- Ability to present problems in a clear and non-judgmental way
- Follow through
- Leadership opportunities for students who have little or no experience or are looking to enhance prior management experience.
- Can be a stepping stone for future roles within the EWMBA Association (VP of Academics or cabinet-level).
- Resume booster for those looking to showcase transferrable skills in the areas of leadership, communications, dispute resolution and negotiation.
- The chance to be an advocate and voice of your fellow students.
- Make a positive contribution to the EW program. Your input contributes to ongoing development and program improvement that benefits future students.
- Course content — Are the lectures interesting and instructive?
- Professor — Does he/she move too fast? Too slow? Are students engaged and keeping up?
- Assessment and grading — Are there too many assignments? Too few? Too close to exams? Clarity of feedback?
- Course structure — Does the course structure reflect the course description? Is time being spent effectively?
Step 1: Discuss and clarify specific details with the student. Listen to their story and consider whether the issue is isolated or whether it affects other students. This determines whether or not the concern should be escalated and, if so, where to direct the feedback — professor, VPs of Academics, classmates, program office, etc.
Step 2: If the issue is personal to the student, encourage them to speak to their academic advisor. If it affects other students in the class, then ask for feedback from the whole cohort. Arrange to speak to the professor about it.
If it’s a global issue that affects the entire class across all four cohorts, bring it to the VPs of Academics and/or other class reps. You can utilize the Class Representative bCourses site.
Step 3: Meet with the appropriate stakeholder(s). Outline the issue and the students’ views. Seek joint solutions and, if possible, agree on a course of action. Report back to your fellow students.
Use this form to submit your details. You will then receive an email from Amanda Gill, liaison to class reps, with additional information on your role and responsibilities.
Your first steps in getting help should be to take advantage of faculty office hours, attend discussion sections led by your Graduate Student Instructor (GSI), and work with your assigned study group.
If you need help above and beyond those resources, your GSI will be available for extra tutoring. GSIs make tutoring available free of charge to students who are having academic difficulty in:
- EW296 Data and Decisions
- EW201A Microeconomics
- EW202 Financial Accounting
- EW203 Introduction to Finance
- EW201B Macroeconomics
- EW204 Operational Leadership
Academic difficulty is defined as being at risk of receiving a grade of C or lower. Your instructor and GSI will determine who is in need of tutoring, based on class performance. Please contact him or her directly if you need this resource. Should you have additional questions, please contact your Academic Advisor.
Other services include:
Academic Probation (“AP”)
All UC Berkeley graduate students are subject to the policies of the Graduate Division. This includes a minimum cumulative GPA requirement of 3.0 and academic probation protocol if a student’s cumulative GPA falls below that threshold. You can familiarize yourself with the Graduate Division policies on coursework, grading, probation and dismissal here.
You are placed on academic probation if your cumulative GPA drops below 3.0. You are given one additional semester to show a strong academic performance and bring up your GPA to 3.0 or above. Students may only remain on AP for one semester; additional semesters require recommendation by the EWMBA Program Office and approval by the Graduate Division.
You must raise your cumulative GPA to at least 3.0 during the semester that you are on academic probation. Below are a few suggestions to get you there:
- Meet with your advisor: As pre-work, carefully and thoughtfully complete the Academic Self-Assessment (must download document first). Consider the obstacles that affected your academic performance and the resources that you’ve used to combat them.
- Take care of yourself physically, emotionally and mentally: Prioritize and organize your study and personal time. Create timelines for assignment due dates, midterms and final exams. Maintain regular study hours and study in an environment that maximizes your productivity.
- Read all emails, or scan them briefly and archive them for later browsing.
- Form a study group: Not only does this create a sense of community, it also allows you and your group members to pool your collective strengths and live one of our Defining Leadership Principles of going “Beyond Yourself”.
- Attend faculty and GSI office hours and review sessions: Get to know your instructors. Ask questions. Talk to them about course content or concepts that are confusing. Discuss assignments and exams, especially areas where you lost points. These conversations can bring the material to life.
- Choose your classes wisely.
- Know your program: Bookmark the EWMBA Program Office website: http://haas.berkeley.edu/EWMBA/. Be aware of program-specific deadlines, policies and procedures. Plan out your semester accordingly. Utilize bCal, bCourses or another calendar service to stay up-to-date.
- Find a mentor each semester: This could be a faculty member, GSI, staff member or experienced peer. In addition to learning valuable tips, tricks and tools from that person, you also build your network of contacts.
- Develop your support network: Make a list of contact information (email address, phone number, etc.) for your fellow classmates, group members, GSIs, faculty, academic advisor and others who you can reach out to when you need help, when you’ll be absent, when an emergency comes up, etc.
| EWMBA Program Office | 510-643-9000 | ewmba_office@haas.berkeley.edu |
| Career Management Group | 510-642-8124 | careers@haas.berkeley.edu |
| Computing Center | 510-642-0434 | helpdesk@haas.berkeley.edu |
| Financial Aid | 510-643-0183 | finaid@haas.berkeley.edu |
| Don Capone (Berkeley Haas psychologist) | 510-642-4853 | dcapone@berkeley.edu |