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UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business Dean Wants to Attract a Different Kind of Applicant

Through changes to the curriculum designed to emphasize creativity and experimentation, Dean Richard Lyons of the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley is hoping to attract a different population to the school, according to a recent Financial Times article.

"I am hopeful we can bring a different sort of person into the pool," Lyons told the FT. Specifically, he wants to attract candidates to Haas who can act as innovative leaders to provide critical course corrections in addressing the issues of healthcare, energy, safe water, climate change and more, he said.

"What do we want? A person who can think outside, who says there has got to be a better way to do this and I am willing to step outside the boundary," Lyons told the FT. ""I think that is identifiable and we would like to be an attractor of these kinds of people," he said.

According to the FT article, the Haas dean hopes to attract this different kind of applicant even if it means that the school's ranking and/or its average GMAT score might fall.

"We cannot be silly," he said, acknowledging that he must still manage costs, but he is ready to take some chances and experiment, he added. Finding students who are the right fit for the school's unique culture may mean turning away some candidates who are otherwise very strong, he continued.

Even given the State of California's serious budget constraints, Lyons is confident that Haas's financial model is sustainable and viable, the FT reports. The school is raising its fees, its part-time MBA program is a key revenue generator and Lyons is spearheading a $300 million fundraising campaign, $120 million of which has already been pledged.