Career path for eventual REPE/entrepreneur role out of ug

Hey WSO,

So I majored in math/civil eng in college and decided a few months before graduation that i wanted to move into real estate full time instead of waiting around and doing it after a few years

I am taking a paid internship at a reit in philly this summer because I'm in a bit of a rush to find something as I graduated last week. It's only a 10 week internship and I'll gain real estate experience I didn't have before, and it could turn into a job offer. At the very least, it gives me something to do while I search. have also applied to various finance roles that don't hire seasonally, but I'm not sure if some random non IB role at UBS or something would even help me get into REPE.

I went to a target school with a good brand name and I got special permission to take M.S. RED courses at the grad level while I was there, where I learned how to underwrite deals, etc. so it's not like I have no experience at all, just not anything significant compared to people coming out of finance or business majors.

I want to get into REPE acquisitions, with the far off goal of eventually buying my own stuff, but it's pretty hard to break into from what I've been reading here, and it's way too late to get a job in IB at a BB at this point, although my school and major probably would have gotten me a job there had I known what I really wanted to do last year. 

In any case, what is the best way forward to get into acquisitions at this point? Work really hard at the REIT and get a job after the internship in acquisitions? I'd personally prefer a smaller REPE shop where I can learn more and look at more opportunistic deals than a REIT might allow, but they usually hire IB analysts after a few years, so I'm not sure if doing acquisitions at a medium sized (~6b aum) public reit is going to be enough to get me into a good one over an IB analyst.

I definitely have the interest and ability to do well in a traditional finance role, but the recruiting cycles for those are just too far off at this point, so looking for some thoughts on the best way forward.