I hear that all business classes are restricted to Haas students during registration and other Berkeley students can only take those classes if they get in off the waitlist at a later point in registration. I am not sure what the strategy should be for a student who just wants to try a few classes and see if there is enough interest in looking at business more seriously.
There are things outside Haas (non UGBA* courses) in the ECON/POL ECON and other departments you can take to explore ..
Unlike some undergraduate business programs, Hass doesn’t have a regular session business minor, but they do have summer session courses, and in fact a summer session minor with a sustainability focus co-hosted by Rausser:
Otherwise, my understanding is you do have to take your chances with a waitlist.
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Interesting. Very useful information; thank you for sharing.
A bit surprised to learn that prerequisites are waived during the summer session, but the announcement advises students that to take a course without having taken the prerequisites is, essentially, at the student’s own risk.
Can the summer courses be taken on a pass/fail basis for non-business majors ?
I’ve seen some people cynically suggest these are basically a money grab. I wouldn’t necessarily think they are ONLY a money grab, but I do suspect Cal does not at all mind how these turn out financially.
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Could you suggest what courses in Econ/Poly Econ could give an equivalent business introduction?
Haas does not expand access like other departments especially data science and computer science. These departments are likely to expand the class size for introductory classes (sometimes over 1000) to make room for people in the waitlist. Haas courses prioritize their own students and waitlist does not move a whole lot.
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That is so frustrating for students who are undecided and curious about business areas of focus.
ECON 1 for lower division
Then the ones listed below which are listed as substitutes for UGBA 101A/101B
Further along, if the student likes business and wants to double major or change majors there is secondary admission to spieker which lists the following prerequisites. The substitutions listed are from this document. Needless to say, admission is competitive and holistic!
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OP, what major are you accepted to at UCB?
Beyond econ (which tends to be more theoretical than many business people deal with on the daily), other business-y classes might include entrepreneurial classes at Sutardja Courses - UC Berkeley Sutardja Center , or classes in operations research, data analytics, applied math.
I would be interested in knowing how many students do this…seems like it could be difficult to get the pre-req classes? Something OP could speak with the relevant dept/advisor about.
Accepted as undecided in L&S. Currently a freshman. Planning for sophomore year registration which starts soon.
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Since you are already there, I would definitely talk about this with your L&S advisor! Is taking summer classes an option for you?
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Unfortunately, this is sort of a known weakness of Cal for undergrad. Great university in many ways, but some of their important units, like Haas, don’t make it easy for unaffiliated undergrads to explore.
So I think you just have to work within this framework as best you can.
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Some like UGBA 10 are hard to get but an equivalent course can be done in a CC. The prereqs are mostly non-business classes and AP credits can be used for Math. But meeting prereqs without sampling classes is not what OP wants. Since the Spieker program started in fall 2024, I am not sure there is stats for secondary admission ..
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On the flip side, not all schools have an undergraduate degree in business. At schools like UCLA or Duke or some of the Ivies, Econ is the closest business major. L & S students at Berkeley can access Econ classes and add the major.
That’s right. You’ve got a full spectrum from colleges with no business program at all, to ones where there is a long list of business minors or secondary majors and such available for students not in the undergrad business program.
Cal is somewhere in between these extremes. For a college with a business program, toward the harder-to-access end, but it does have some avenues, as we have been discussing.