Cambridge Real Estate Finance vs LSE Real Estate Economics and Finance
Hi guys, I've got offers from Cambridge and LSE to do a Masters and I was wondering which one would be the best to do for a career in real estate private equity. For background, I'm in my last year of undergrad and have some internships but don't have any full-time work experience. I've heard the Cambridge course is quite academic so I'm not sure which would be better. I'd appreciate any advice!
Being in London matters a lot, especially if you're good at networking. Consider that
Honestly real estate is not rocket science, you learn the main topics quite fast. Without knowing the content of the two MSc (i.e. the courses), I would pick LSE
Coming from Cambridge myself, though not the MPhil REF program, I have heard great reviews about it. Here is my personal take—if I were in your shoes, I would definitely choose Cambridge's MPhil REF. I think Cambridge's branding, legacy, and network will be very helpful in the long run, and MPhil REF has a longstanding reputation in the industry. Also, it is a top-notch program for a relatively reasonable price, as compared to more general MBA programs in business schools like LBS, Judge, or Said, which demand a significant premium to their price tags.
Coming from the LSE REEF myself, I would at least say that the benefit of the LSE is the great opportunities to do networking given your presence in London. However, this is very much dependent on your own ability to actively try and expand your network within the industry as the networking sessions presented by the program are scarce.
Academic-wise, the program is super good although there is a large emphasis on urban economics which can seem difficult to connect to what you will be doing after graduation as a real estate professional. Nonetheless, the other courses are fine but I would suspect these to be relatively similar across the LSE and Cambridge.
All in all, I highly recommended the LSE REEF programme if you are striving towards a career within the real estate industry - when I compare the number of interviews I was invited to while studying at the REEF program compared to my undergrad, it has meant a huge difference.
Did you have any experience when you entered LSE? Were any of your peers experienced or was everyone mostly fresh out of their bachelors?
It is a bit mixed. Very few people had held full time positions in real estate companies in 1-2 years before the master, some had some internship experience but not within real estate, and many had no experience with real estate and only limited experience with other finance internships, so having some real estate experience beforehand will significantly increase your changes of landing a job in the industry afterwards - otherwise, it can be very difficult to distinguish yourself from other people at e.g., Cambridge, UCL, Bayes, etc., who also do the real estate masters.
What are the career prospects from programs like these? Wondering
Did the Mphil years ago, it's reputation is definitely ahead of LSE but yes it's very academic and c. 1hr from London. The Cambridge name will stick with you for life - which is worth putting up with one year of academic coursework + a slightly longer trip to network / interview.
This post helped me decided back in the day: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/real-estate/university-of-cambridge-mphil-real-estate-finance
Did you have experience going into the program? What were the demographics mainly like? I'm considering the program with 6-7 years of experience but wondering if its not worth it at that stage. I would be moving from the US to UK so thought it might help establish a network and help with job search.
As a follow up - what would the all-in cost of attendance be for someone coming from the US to attend the program?
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