REPE recruiting

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Here is my situation: I am a rising senior at a non-target (Think Ole Miss/LSU/Arkansas) graduating in December. For years, I have been very interested in the CRE investment space, and while I don’t have a strong educational background at all, I have a somewhat strong CRE-specific resume (very involved/leadership roles in university finance clubs, CRE-specific modeling courses, ACRE, etc).

Currently, I am doing an investment sales analyst internship in a major east coast market (Boston, DC, Philly). However, I know that I want to be in an acquisitions role when I graduate in December. Not shooting for Starwood (obviously), but I would love to get a spot on a somewhat sizable REPE (think 1b-5b AUM) who’s investment strategy I align with.

With all of that being said, since I know I don’t plan to return to the company where I am interning, should I begin the recruitment process now? I am unsure of what the timeline looks like for REPE. As I said above, I graduate in December and can start full time immediately.

Do I wait? Start reaching out and expressing interest with groups I have relationships with? Apply for jobs? Set up coffee chats? Any and all info is truly appreciated. Thanks.