Thursday, June 21, 2007

Useful Berkeley Living Info

The following few posts will outline some of the more useful things I learned at Berkeley (outside of class of course). I will provide some insights on some of the places to live and eat around Berkeley.

Some general useful info:
- BART is about 15 min walk from Haas.
- BART to Oakland Airport is about 35 mins and to SFO is about 55mins.
- San Francisco (Union Square) is about 30 mins away by car ($4 bridge toll), about 1 hr away by BART ($3.2 each way), and 1h 15 mins by AC Transit Bus (free for Berkeley students).
- If you have a car and plan on going to SF a lot, get a FastTrak - its not cheaper, but it can save you 10-45 mins on your commute to SF.
- As a Berkeley student, you get a free AC Transit pass that takes you all around Berkeley, Oakland and to SF.
- Useful AC Transit lines - F goes to SF, 51 to Oakland/Alameda
- A good place that I used to go get a Haircut is called Edge at Telegraph and Channing. My stylist is named Rose, she's really good - at least for Asian males.
- 99 Ranch Market (Asian grocery market) is located in Richmond, which is about 15 min drive from Berkeley. There is a bus to 99, but it has multiple transfers that make it about 35 mins ride. I am not sure if you want to be carrying all those groceries while making transfers.
- Berkeley Bowl is a great place to shop for fresh fruits and other misc grocery items. Think Trader Joe's
- Emeryville Bay Street is nice alternative to SF Shopping. About 15 mins drive.

Places to eat outside of Berkeley:

Sushi House - Americanized Sushi located in Alameda, which is about 25 mins away from Berkeley. Try the Lion King (Teriyaki Salmon baked over Californian Rolls). About ~$10 / roll.
French Laundry by Chef Thomas Keller. Famous French restaurant located Yountville (about 15 mins past Napa). Can only make reservations 1 month ahead and it usually gets booked within a day. $240/person.

Things to do in Berkeley:
Hike the Big C
Visit Lawrence Laboratory (Nice View)
Visit the Rose Gardens
Visit the Berkeley Marina
Play Golf at Tilden Golf Course
Shop at 4th Street - Nice "Yuppie" shopping, eating area. Try Bette's Oceanview Diner for great breakfast, Vik's Chaat Corner for some cheap Indian food, and Eccolo for some great Italian fusion.

South Side Berkeley

South Side
This area is the more "happening" side of campus with tons of undergrads in the area. With Frat Row on Piedmont and three undergraduates dormitories, this area can get a little loud on a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. It is convenient to live on this side because you close to Haas - roughly 5-10 min walk. It is also about 10-15 mins from the BART with access to pretty much all of the AC Transit bus lines. Some campus housing options include:
Jackson House - Graduate Housing. This is where I lived. I lived with 3 flatmates in a 4 bdrm apt, 2 bths. It's a bit expensive as it cost about $950. Included are maid service every week, all utilities including water, electricity, cable TV, and campus T3 Internet service. Roughly ~5 Haas Students live here.
International House - "I-House" is not just for International Students, but for all students - both graduates and undergraduates. Rent is a bit cheaper at $11k / year with everything at Jackson House and a meal plan. Roughly ~5 House Students live here.
Both options are great for single students who want to be close to campus.

Another ways of looking for Housing in Berkeley:
Cal Rentals - costs like $40 to view all the listings, but its worth it
Housing Maps - integrates craiglists and google maps. Pick SF-East Bay for Berkeley

It is also super close to the 'Asian Ghetto', the unofficial title of the food court located on Durant Ave. This food court has been my favorite place to eat because of its low price ($5-$8) and wide variety. Some of my favorite establishments include:
Gypsy's - Great Italian food for about $7 bucks. Try the Godfather's Favorite or Gypsy's Special.
Thai Basil - Great Thai food for about $7 bucks. Portions are a bit smaller, but the food is tasty.
Steve Korean BBQ - Cheap Korean BBQ for about $6. The running joke is that Steve is not Korean, but the food is good.
Vietnamese / Chinese - The owners are Chinese, but they have Pho. I like this place because they are cheaper (@ ~$5) and satisfies my Chinese and Vietnamese fixes.

Across the street are:
Top Dog - Berkeley's most popular hot dog place. Try the Chicken Apple, Lemon Chicken, or Louisiana (spicy) for something different. A bit pricy at $2.5 / dog, but it's good.
La Burrita - Open till 2am (like Top Dog), they have good Mexican food at a low price ~ $5-7 / plate. Try the enchiladas, wet burrito, and philly steak burrito.
House of Curries - I like it a bit more than Naan and Curry. A bit pricey though at $8 / curry and $2 / naan.

Further Down West:
Pizza by the Slice - Fat Slice and Blondies. I am personally partial to the pepperoni at Fat Slice because their dough and crust are softer, while Blondies is more dense and thinner. But at about $3 / slice (a really big slice), its a great deal either way.
Thai House - Actually down Channing, it has slightly better Thai food at about ~$8-9.
Great Wall - On Shattuck, this is the most authentic Chinese Food you will find in Berkeley. Great Peking Duck. Expect $10-$20 / person.
Angeline's Louisiana Kitchen - Pretty good southern food (although I'm not sure if I'm the best judge of its authenticity). Usually get the cajun shrimp or jambalaya. About ~$9-$15.

Up for something more expensive?
Unicorn - Asian Fusion. Menu changes weekly with interesting dishes like Wasabi Curry and Lychee Duck. A good deal at about ~$20 / person.
Adagia - Located right on College/Bancroft across campus so you will run into a lot of professors. Typical California food, have had the lamb, steak, and scallops. ~$25-35 / person.
Kirala - Japanese Sushi on Shattuck. Never been, but heard its pretty good. Expensive though - $30-$40.

Local Bars:
Henry's - At the Durant Hotel. Used to have 2 beers for $2 on Tuesday. I think their happy hours are now on Weds. More of a quiet / chill / older bar (except after Football Games).
Blake's - There is a dance floor in the basement. The stickiness of the bars/tables bother me sometime, but its a reasonable bar/resturant
Raleigh's - Similar to Blakes, but I like it more. Better selection of beer and gives off a cleaner feel.
Bear's Lair - Official school bar/pub. Beer is cheap and convenient. Good place to go to after a tough statistic's final.
Bars on Shattuck:
Beckett's - Irish Pub. Grab some Guinness and you're looking good.
Jupiter - Has a nice outdoor area where they have live music. They brew their own beer and have awesome pizza.
Triple Rock - They also brew their own beer, but its a bit on the smaller side. Across the street is a late-night Thai food place with cheap food.

More info on bars, http://www.10best.com/Berkeley/Nightlife/Bars/index.html

Pros: Convenient location, Lots of really cheap food, Close to Haas (5-15 mins walk)
Cons: Lots of undergrads, kind of rowdy on the weekends, Expensive parking ($175 / month)

North Side

North Side
The Engineering buildings are located on the North Side, therefore this is the quieter side of campus. There are some good cheap food options here, including a Top Dog, La Burrita, and a Thai and Korean BBQ place that I can't think of their names now. But they close earlier at ~10pm versus 11pm - 12 on Southside. Having never lived on this side, its hard for me to comment. But most graduate students like to live on North Side. There are a few apartment buildings closer to campus, but mostly students live in a 3-4 bedroom house with roommates. A great way to find roommates are at Super Saturday or Days at Haas or through the Haas Google Groups.

In addition, down closer to Shattuck is what we call the "Gourmet Ghetto". Here you will find fine dining, highlighted by Chez Panisse. Founded by Alice Waters, she "unleashed an epicurean revolution by focusing on locally grown, seasonal ingredients." There is a fixed menu that costs around $50 on Monday to about $80 / person. You can go upstairs and go ala carte for about $25-35 / person. All prices don't include wine of course. Other places to try:
Cesar's - A nice Tapas place with great sangrias. Each dish is about $5-8 and about 3-4 dishes / person is good. Fun atmosphere. Cafe de La Paz is a similar place on north side.
Cheeseboard - Great Pizza! They only serve one kind of pizza / day and its all organic and vegetarian. And even though I'm a meat lover, I love this place! Slices are $2 for a much smaller slice than the other pizza places. 2-3 slices are recommended, or grab a whole pie! They also have great cheese.
Cha Am - A good thai place, although more expensive than the South Side options ~$9-10.
Gregory
- French take-out. Had it twice and really liked the food. About $15 / dish, $5 / side.
Saul's - A New York deli. Been there once and the food was good. About ~$12.
Cha-Ya - Vegertarian Japanese Food. Had it in SF and it was pretty good. ~9-10

These are places I have tried. For even choices, check this article out, http://sfgate.com/traveler/guide/eastbay/neighborhoods/gourmet.shtml

Pros: Quiet, Nice Houses to live in, Gourmet Food places about 5-10 mins away, Can have a car.
Cons: Farther from Haas, 15-25 min walk

Rockridge / Elmwood

Rockridge / Elmwood
Nice place for "Yuppies". Lots a nice places to eat and about 15-20 mins walk to Haas. Bus transportation is available. The 51 takes back to Berkeley in about 7 mins and it comes every 10 mins or so. A BART station is about 5-10 mins away too. Lastly, a Safeway and Albertsons is in the area.

Some Places to eat at:
Zachery's Pizza- Chicago-Style Pizza. Expect Lines and expensive pizza (~$20 / large pizza). But the pizza is really good and unique. Try the Chicken Specialty with some Anchor Steam.
Trattoria La Sicilina - Excellent at a reasonable price ~$15! It's a bit on the smaller side with limited seating, but its worth it. Try the Squid Ink or Pesto pasta.
Grasshopper - A tapas place. Not as fun as Cesar, but the food was good.
Shen Hua - Pretty good Chinese food, albeit a bit Americanized and pricer ~$12 a dish.
Manpuku - My friends favorite Japanese place in Berkeley. It has good combo deals for about ~$10.

For more info, http://sfgate.com/traveler/guide/eastbay/neighborhoods/rockridge.shtml

Pros: Quiet "Yuppie" area, good mix of cheaper and expensive food
Cons: A bit further from Haas, rent can get more expensive, especially in Rockridge

San Francisco

San Francisco:
I've never lived in SF, but roughly about 10-25% of the class live in SF. San Francisco is about 45 mins to 1 hr to Haas by BART. Rent ranges from $1000 - $2000 depending on the area and size. But you can expect to pay about $800-$1200 / person to share a pretty nice place in SF.
Areas to consider:
Japanese Town - Cheaper rent, but further from public transportation. Probably will need a car.
Russian Hill / Nob Hill - Really nice area, but really expensive rent.
South San Francisco - Cheaper rent, but will definitely need a car.

Housing Maps is a great way to look for a place. It integrates Craiglist and Google Maps.


Places that come to mind:
Gary Danko's - Ranked #1 by Zagats for the Bay Area. About $80-$155 / person
Masa's - Similar to Gary Danko's. About $80-$120 / person.
Roy's - Expensive Hawaiian fusion food. Food is good, decor is nice. Expect about $50-60 / person.
Ana Mandara - Vietnamese/French Fusion. Food is pretty good, but I think the decor is it's main attraction. Really nice Southeast Asian feel. Also a Jazz Bar upstairs.
Medjools - Really nice Mediterranean place with great tapas and interesting drinks. Expect about $8-12 / tapa. The place turns into a dance lounge at night on the weekend. It also opens up the roof in the Spring and Summer and has a great view of the city.
Golden Gate Bakery - Have you ever had Chinese Egg Tarts, the ones you get at Dim Sum? Well, they have the best egg tarts this side of Shenzhen. It's about a bit smaller than a donut (which is a lot bigger than normal ones) for about a $1. My parents bought 2 dozen back to LA with them.

Things to See/Do:
Bike Across Golden Gate Bridge
Visit Fisherman's Wharf
Visit Alcatraz Island
Visit North Beach Nightlife
Visit Chinatown - the largest Chinatown outside of China.
Drive on Lombard Street
Great Shopping in Union Square
Take your dog to Fort Funston - largest dog park in SF

Classes that I recommend

Here are a few of the classes that I really liked at Haas:
Core + 1 - classes that are really useful
Managerial Accounting with Nicole Johnson.
Really useful class because you learn different ways of accounting that affect a company's pricing, value and profitability. Was really useful in consulting interviews. I hear Sunil is really good at teaching this class.
Financial Modeling with Sarah Tasker. Really intense and fast moving class on financial modeling. Very useful class that you should take before you graduate.

Elective Classes:
Pricing with Teck Ho.
By far the most popular class while I was at Haas. He's class went for about 801 / 1000 points. I really enjoyed his class because of his outstanding enthusiasm for teaching. He also integrated a lot of computer simulations that were a lot of fun. The class was very useful for consulting interviews as well.
Creativity and Innovation in Marketing with Jennifer Aaker. A new hire from Stanford and daughter of Haas branding legend David Aaker, Jennifer was awesome. She is really passionate about teaching and did a great job in her first class at Haas. She had outstanding speakers, like Geoffrey Moore, and interesting projects.
Power and Politics with John Freeman. Freeman did a really good job of mixing lecture, guest speakers and movies. Freeman brought in outstanding speakers like John Hanke - founder of Keyhole, which later became Google Maps after its acquisition by Google. I hear Anderson is also really good.
Competitive and Corporate Strategy with Paul Tiffany. Lots of interesting cases, including ones on Google, McKinsey and GE. Tiffany does a good job of keeping an 8am class interesting and interactive.
Information Technology based Marketing with Florian Zettelmeyer. Outstanding professor - former McKinsey - and very useful class if you are interested in consumer marketing.
Opportunity Recognition with Drew Isaacs. Part of the MOT Speaker Series. We've had some great speakers come in, including Vinod Khosla (Khosla Ventures), Randy Komisar (Kleiner Perkins), and Mark Kvamme (Sequoia Capital).
Game Theory with John Morgan. I never took the class, but I heard it was a very interesting class about strategy. Morgan won a Cheit Award for his teaching this year.
Financial Information Analysis with Shai Levi. A useful course on how to value a company. I audited the course for a bit and it was interesting. From what I heard is that this class is more useful than Corporate Finance for people going into non-finance careers.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Mirror Rankings?

I've often been asked, "Who/What is McKinsey?"

And I always found myself going into a long convoluted answer of, "Well, the industry is Management Consulting... They give top companies advice on strategy... They solve tough business problems...umm..."

Of which, I would always get a, "Oh, that sounds nice."

I finally decided to start answering them with, "It's the Harvard of MBA jobs." It's not a perfect description, but it usually got the message across - it's a good company. This got me thinking about MBA Employers and Business Schools. So I looked at the USNews and Fortune 100 (via Universum Communications) rankings and found surprising similarities.

Harvard Business School: #1
McKinsey & Company: #1

McKinsey has been ranked the #1 choice of MBA students in the last 10 years. They are the gold standard of Management Consulting and have one of the toughest selection process. Harvard has been consistently ranked in the top 3 of USNews in the last 10 years. Although, if a poll were sent to all MBA applicants, I would guess that Harvard would be #1 in that survey as well. Harvard is the most selective business school (Princeton Review) and is definitely the gold standard of general management.

Stanford Graduate School of Business: #2
Google Inc.: #2

Both are located in the Silicon Valley. Both are known to be entrepreneurialistic. Both tend to do things their own way - Google's IPO and Stanford's acceptance of the GRE. Did I mention that Google was founded by Stanford (CS) PhD Students?

Wharton School of Business: #3
Goldman Sachs: #3

The Wharton School is arguably the top business school in the nation. However, lately haven fallen a bit behind Standford in terms of selectivity (Princeton Review). Goldman Sachs used to be ranked #2 until Google's recent surge. Furthermore, Wharton is known as one of the top business schools for finance, making its comparison to Goldman natural.

Northwestern University (Kellogg School of Management): #4
Bain & Company: #4

One of the Big Three Consulting companies, Bain is known for their outstanding marketing strategy. Kellogg is also known as the best school of marketing. Furthermore, the culture at Bain is known to be fun, young, and frat-like community. Kellogg students are also known for their laid-back and fun nature. Seems like a good fit for me!

MIT, Sloan School of Management: #4
The Boston Consulting Group: #5

BCG is known as the "Nerdy" Big Three (from Vault), because of their academic founding. Sloanies are also known more for their quant skills than their soft skills. Both are located/headquartered in Boston. Am I missing anything else?

University of Chicago: #6
CitiGroup: #6

Chicago is known as one of the best finance schools. CitiGroup is a top bank. That's about all I got.

University of Californa, Berkeley (Haas School of Business): #7
Apple Computer, Inc.: #7

Although Haas has always been a top 10 school in the USNews, it finally achieved the same status in the Business Week rankings - jumping from #17 to #8 this year. Apple also made a drastic jump from #15 to #7 on the Universum survey this year. Apple is now the darling of Wall Street (along with Google), and Haas has made tremendous strides in recent rankings and hirings - thanks to the booming technology industry. Both are located in the Bay Area.

Columbia University: #7
Morgan Stanley: #10

Okay, this might be the furtherest reach in rankings, but this one also makes a lot of sense. Morgan Stanley is one of the top banks in the industry and Columbia is known for their outstanding finance department. Both are located/headquartered in NY.

Rounding out the top 15:
9. Dartmouth University (Tuck) | 8. General Electric
- General Management
10. UCLA Anderson | 9. Johnson & Johnson - ?
11. Duke University (Fuqua) | 11. Proctor & Gamble - Marketing
11. Michigan University (Ross) | 12. Nike - Sports! Ha!
13. New York University (Stern) | 13. Lehman Brothers - Finance & NY
13. University of Virgina (Darden) | 15. Booz Allen Hamilton - Virgina
15. Yale University | 14. Walt Disney - Brand Name

The list isn't perfect, but there are definitely quite a few similarities and matches. At the very least, it was enough for me to write a 30 min entry. Hope you found it interesting as well!

Links:
USNews MBA Rankings
Fortune 100 Top MBA Employers
Princeton Review MBA Rankings
Email me with comments

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Why Berkeley Haas

After attending all the admit weekends, including the ones in Philadelphia, Boston, and Los Angeles, I've decided to attend the Haas School of Business. Now, I didn't select the highest ranking school that I got into.

Here are a number of reasons why:

Location - Love California! It would be very hard to imagine my life outside of the West Coast.
Industry - Technology is where I want to be and Haas is well-positioned in the Bay Area.
Flexibility - The Haas degree is also flexible enough if I decide to switch into consulting or if I want to go international one day.
Culture - Loved the people I met at Days at Haas! They are absolutely brilliant, but also down-to-earth and humble. The culture was by far the best of any school I visited!
School Pride - I have to say I love UC Berkeley. My first time around was such a great experience that I really want to contribute back to the school. Even though I was accepted to "higher ranked schools," I truly want to help transform Berkeley Haas into a top 5 school - which I believe is absolutely possible. I mean most Berkeley graduate programs are in their respective top 3 - e.g. Engineering, CS, Public Policy, Optometry, etc - why shouldn't Haas be?

These are just a few reasons why I ultimately choose to attend Haas. I hope that gives people a perspective into my decision-making process. The best advice I can give is for everyone to attend their admit weekends and get a feel for the school. I mean you will be there for 2 years!! You definitely don't want to go somewhere you don't feel comfortable.

Good Luck to everyone still deciding!

Friday, March 18, 2005

Berkeley Housing Option

I've been talking to one of my Cal undergrad buddies and if I end up going to Haas, we're thinking about renting a place in Emeryville (thats where I use to live while I was in undergrad).

Benefits of living in Emeryville:
1) Close to Cal - 3 miles from campus. (15 minute bus ride.)
2) Close to the Bart - 1 mile from McArthur Bart Station.
3) Lots of shopping (<1 mile) - IKEA, Trader Joe's, Good Guys, Bay Street Mall (Banana Republic, Barnes and Noble, etc.)
4) Entertainment and Food Court (<1 mile) - AMC Bay Street, UA Emery Bay 10, etc.
5) Great Location - It has a great view of the Bay and its close to the Bay Bridge for those weekend SF getaways!
6) Some really NICE Apartments! Meaning - clean and reasonable-priced.

Two Options:
1) Bridgecourt



1325 40TH STREET
EMERYVILLE, CA 94608

1 Bedroom $1095 - $1500 (554-788 sqft.)
2 Bedroom $1725 - $1875 (1179-1268)
2 Bedroom Loft $2000 - $2100 (1015-1088)

There's a Pack N' Save across the street and a Taco Bell, Starbucks, CompUSA, etc. in the same Complex. This is where I lived in undergrad. We had a 2 Bedroom Loft and we squeezed 4 guys in it! Man ... good times ...


You must enable Java in your browser to see this 360° image.


2) Emerybay Club & Apartments



6401 SHELLMOUND STREET
EMERYVILLE, CA 94608

Studio $1085 (530-635 sqft.)
1 Bedroom $1265 - $1450 (660-861)
2 Bedroom $1550 - $1925 (935-1105)
3 Bedroom $2000 - $2225 (1120-1340)

I had a couple friends live here ... this place is HUGE and the rooms are really nice and new! It's also right next to the UA Emery Bay movie theaters, Borders, and food court.


You must enable Java in your browser to see this 360° image.


If you want to find something comparable closer to Berkeley, check out Allston Lofts on www.rent.com, its about $600-$800 more for a smaller place (2 Bedroom, 637-776 sq ft., $2325 - $2565).

Now if enough Haas Admits are interested in living in Emeryville, we could go and negotiate a deal with Management for some discounts or perks ... Now wouldn't it be really cool if we could create a small Haas Community right in Emeryville!?

EDIT (3): (1) Added a Map of Emeryville. (2,3) Fixed Graphics.

Monday, March 14, 2005

What you can buy for $134 million today!

To the 1,200 billionaires out there - BOY do we have a place for YOU! Remember the difficulty you had trying to find a parking spot for your 7th and 8th limousines? Or when you your 5 illegitimate kids/mistresses fought over having their own pool to swim in? And who can forget the tacky 14-Karat mosaic floor you had to bear with in your previous home! Well look no further - we have the place for you!

Updown Court, a newly built mansion for sale just outside of London, offers plenty of lavish amenities: five swimming pools, eight-limousine garage, and mosaic floor made of 24-karat gold leaf in the downstairs study.


What does Updown Court have to offer the international billionaire? Start with size and opulence. The main house and two guesthouses comprise 60,000 square feet of living area. Among the 103 rooms are 22 bedrooms, each with its own marble bathroom.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Music Magic!



So what is Music Magic you ask? Well, essentially its a playlist generator. It creates a playlist based off of songs you like. For example, if you like Hoobastank, you might like Dashboard Confessional.

So what's the difference between this and other playlist generators? Well it analyzes your music based off like 974327321 different characteristics rather than just using metadata information (i.e. genre, artist). For example, if you like songs with lots of electric guitars, then a playlist will be generated with U2 and Metallica and maybe some surprises ...

Just an example of a playlist I got recently using "Hoobstank - The Reason":
John Mayer - Love Song for No One
Michelle Branch - Enough
Matchbox Twenty - Bent
The Calling - Wherever You Go
Brand New - The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows
Alex To - Take You Away (Chinese)
S.E.S - Yumeo Kasanete (Korean)


Since it uses the analysis of the song versus the genre, I get some pretty diverse (and weird, but fun) playlists!

Try it out and let me know what you think!

Warning: It takes a while analyzing all your songs, but you only have to do this once. I have like 4867 songs so I just left my computer on one night and it finished analyzing all my songs.

Disclosure: A subsidy of the company that I work for wrote this software. And we ARE NOT responsible if you don't like the playlists - its your fault, get some better music ... but we ARE responsible if you find the playlists refreshing and unique ... =)

Friday, March 04, 2005

Advantage: Berkeley MBA

One of the things I really like about Berkeley Haas is the number of events the school has extended to newly admitted students.

Recent Events in the Bay Area:
- Haas Alumni Network Celebration in Silicon Valley
- Asia Business Conference
- Berkeley MBA Mixer in San Francisco

Recent Events in LA:
- DMEC Mixer in Los Angeles
- Berkeley MBA Dinner in Beverly Hills

Career Services:
- 20-minute phone session with a Career Advisor or Account Manager

Haas has also made the core schools list of recruiters at a number of companies that peak my interest including Amazon.com, McKinsey, and Yahoo!

Berkeley Haas DMEC LA Mixer


The Berkeley Haas Digital Media and Entertainment Club hosted an LA Mixer at the BOA Lounge in West Hollywood last night. In attendance was a handful of admits, about 20-30 current students, about 20 alumni, and even some recruiters from Warner Brothers.

The main purpose of the DMEC's visit to LA was to meet with a number of companies in the Los Angeles area, including EA, Sony, Universal, and Disney. They met with Directors and Business Development Managers to learn more about the entertainment industry. It was really exciting to meet a number of current students in a very casual environment - after a couple of yager and cokes, I felt right at home!

I was definitely impressed by the passion and organization of the DMEC. Each student spoke enthusiastically about their career pursuits in the competitive entertainment industry and in regards to the connections that have established through Berkeley Alums. Many of the students were interviewing with a number of companies that I would love to work for including Yahoo, Apple, and EA.

One concern that I had with Berkeley Haas was regarding how much "fun" I would have at the school and how tight of a community I would be a part of - based off of last night's group, I would say that concern has been mitigated.

Edit: Typos. Spelling. Added some links and graphics.