The Core Prep Workshops are designed to facilitate a smooth transition into the first year of your MBA. The core courses will cover a lot of material in a relatively short time, so these workshops provide in-depth instruction on specific skills that are required for strong performance in the program.
We strongly encourage you to attend these workshops so that you can build these foundational skills, re-acquaint yourself with material you may not have worked with recently, and adjust to being back in the classroom.
Even if you took part in the virtual MBA Quantitative Skills Course that you were invited to participate in by Admissions, we recommend that you also take part in our in-person workshops. They provide a great opportunity to get to know the Haas faculty, your classmates and acquaint yourself with the Haas campus. While we hope that the MBA Quantitative Skills Course provides a critical opportunity to learn the foundational skills that you will need in the core, our workshops will provide further opportunity for you to review materials in the Haas context. We hope to see you on campus for these workshops in August!
Schedule Overview
With the exception of Foundational Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Concepts and Skills for Leaders which takes place on Zoom, all workshops will take place in person, at Haas. Room assignments will be provided closer to the start of the workshops.
Workshop |
Date |
Time |
Capacity |
FOUNDATIONAL DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION CONCEPTS AND SKILLS FOR LEADERS (FOUR-DAY VIRTUAL WORKSHOP) |
July 6, 13, 20, 27 (virtual) |
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM (PDT)1 |
Unlimited |
COMMUNICATING AND CONNECTING IN BUSINESS SCHOOL |
August 72 OR August 82 |
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM3
8:30 AM - 3:30 PM3 |
280 students
280 students |
INTRODUCTION TO MICROECONOMICS |
August 9 | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | 280 students |
EXCEL BASICS |
August 9 | 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM | 280 students |
INTRODUCTION TO DATA & DECISIONS (TWO-DAY WORKSHOP) |
August 10-11 | 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM | 280 students |
INTRODUCTION TO DATA ANALYTICS |
August 10 | 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM | 280 students |
EXCEL FOR STATISTICS |
August 11 | 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM | 280 students |
1. In addition to these meeting times, participants should expect 1.5 hours of asynchronous work in preparation for each live session.
2. Content at both workshops is identical.
3. Breakfast will be provided.
How to Register
You are able to register for Core Prep Workshops at the time of registration for New Student Orientation. More details will be sent through our weekly newsletter which you will begin receiving in mid-June. Some will have limited capacity due to professor requests, so be sure to sign up early.
Foundational Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Concepts and Skills for Leaders (Four-Day Virtual Workshop)
Instructor: Om Chitale, MBA 18
Dates: July 6, 13, 20, 27
Time: 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Location: Zoom
Hours commitment: 1.5 hours asynchronous and 2 hours synchronous per session, 20 hours total
Description: This course will focus on creating a shared understanding of essential DEI concepts, and building skills for business leaders to create inclusive working environments using a mixed modality of asynchronous and live practice over 4 sessions on Zoom. Participants can expect 1.5 hours of asynchronous work in preparation for each live session. The live sessions will provide participants with the opportunity for clarifying concepts, and primarily focus on practicing applied skills in small groups or pairs.
Capacity is limited for this workshop, so please sign up early. We will likely end up with a waitlist, so please let us know as soon as possible if you cannot attend.
Instructor: Cort Worthington
Dates: August 7 OR August 8
Times: August 7 - 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM OR August 8 - 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM (Including a lunch break. Workshop content will be identical. Select one workshop or the other.)
Location: Anderson Auditorium
Description: This workshop is highly recommended for all incoming students, as attending gives participants a jump-start in forging connections and creating your new social and professional network.
The Communication and Connecting in Business School workshop introduces tools for building rapport, sharing your personal story, practicing active listening, and discovering fundamental commonalities underneath initial impressions. Through a variety of exercises, students will explore an approach to communication emphasizing the importance of intelligent risk-taking, collaboration, and learning how to network while maintaining authenticity — skills vital to success for incoming graduate business students and future leaders.
This session directly complements Leadership Communication (MBA 200C), a required course for all first-year MBA students during the Fall Semester.
Instructor: Gregory La Blanc
Date: August 9
Time: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Anderson Auditorium
Description: In this session, we will introduce some of the core concepts that will serve as the starting point for microeconomics. Microeconomics is all about decision-making, both by individuals and by firms. To prepare you for the core class we will discuss the basics of consumer choice, tradeoffs, constrained optimization, sensitivity analysis and how to think on the margin.
Instructor: Veselina Dinova
Date: August 9
Time: 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Location: Chou Hall - N100
Description: Familiarity with the basic functionality of excel is essential for all students. During this workshop we will illustrate most of these basics – how to structure and organize efficient worksheets, labeling and formatting, useful functions and tips, how to use goal seek, how to enable add-ins, pivot tables, common errors, etc. Students with no to little experience with excel are strongly encouraged to attend. Students with intermediate experience with excel may benefit too. Note that all exercises in this workshop are pre-recorded in short videos and these videos are posted on bCourses. They will remain available throughout the academic year. No preparation for this workshop is required.
Instructor: Veselina Dinova
Dates: August 10 and August 11
Time: 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Location: Chou Hall - N100
Description: The Data and Decisions workshop is designed to help the students prepare for MBA200S - the Data & Decisions core course in Fall A. It includes a brief discussion of the theory and various exercises on the concepts covered in chapters 1-12 from the required textbook. The students are highly encouraged to review the pre-recorded content on this topic or review the chapters from the textbook prior to the live workshops. The pre-recorded content includes short videos and summary slides posted on bCourses. The workshop concludes with a review of practice quizzes given in prior years.
Instructor: Thomas Lee
Date: August 10
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Location: Anderson Auditorium
Description: The Data Analytics workshop is designed to help students prepare for MBA200A - the Data Analytics core course in Fall B. This workshop introduces terminology and fundamental concepts that are revisited in greater detail during Fall B. The core course moves quickly and this workshop is for students with no prior experience. Data Analytics is more than just AI and machine learning; it creates value for more than just Internet firms and connected products. In preparation for this workshop, students should read the Heppelmann and Porter article before class and reflect on different ways that data creates value. The article will be sent in advance of the workshop. Students should also bring their laptop computer with the latest version of the Chrome or Firefox Web browser.
Instructor: Veselina Dinova
Date: August 11
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Location: Chou Hall - N100
Description: The standard excel package includes many functions and other tools helpful for a number of statistical calculations and data analyses. This workshop is designed to help students familiarize with these functions and tools before the Data and Decisions class begins. Examples: Data Analysis Toolpak, correlation matrix, regression analysis, t-values and z-values for normal distribution. Note that all exercises in this workshop are also pre-recorded in short videos and these videos are posted on bCourses. They will remain available throughout the academic year. No preparation for this workshop is required.
.svg "BerkeleyHaas")