i have never had anyone ask what my gpa was. My current gig, acquisitions at a top invesment manager, had a GPA requirement but they never asked for mine. I had a 3.0 if you round up from 2.95 in undergrad and I am at a top investment manager. I don't think GPA is as important. I will caveat by saying that i did go to a target and was a varsity athlete. 3.5+ gpa should be able to open any doors.

 

Thanks for the post guys. I noticed that while reaching out to people - they didn't give two shits that I came from a target school or interned in corporate PE and RE IB.

Along those same lines did you guys have undergrad RE / underwriting experience?

 

to answer your question - i never had an internship or any work experience besides working in a warehouse for a family member summer after senior year. on the side for them i did some side buy vs. sell analysis from teaching myself/bullshitting my way through it.

i networked my ass off and was able to get a gig as an analyst for an investment sales shop in a gateway market with the eye on getting to two/three of the top shops in my city with acquisitions roles. Was able to transition very quickly from working on a deal that my current shop looked very hard at.

besides the most basic excel/argus test it was so much about fit/did they think that i would work hard/did they think i could build relationships in the industry.

 

at the risk of sounding stupid, i've noticed that real estate is much more people driven. why do you think that is vs. corporate pe. that's actually one of the reasons why i like re.

but are there any relationships you need to create at the acquisitions level?

 

I don't know if I necessarily agree with everyone saying "people don't give two shits about GPA". I agree it is viewed as less important in REPE then other corporate roles, however, still important. I think it is more of a checkbox if you are trying to land interviews via headhunters or applying on online. If you land interviews by networking, it is less of importance.

 

I had a 3.1 GPA coming out of a top state school and have never had an issue getting an interview. For me, it seems that it has always been more about my experience and networking than GPA.

You typically don't see GPA minimums on RE jobs, but some banks have them for every job coming straight out of school, so if you can maintain a 3.5 or higher, then by all means. But that isn't where I would focus - it would be on internships, learning modeling/Argus, networking. (Including joining clubs/groups), and taking professional level courses (MAI, CCIM, RE licensing, maybe even inspection courses).

 

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