Debt/Equity Placement —> Buy Side

I am a grad student at SMU (MSRE). My end goal is to get into the buy side of the business and looking for a good entry point. Do you think debt/equity placement at an institutional firm is a good place to start to later transition into the buy side at a smaller firm?

Pretty much all of the job offerings in my market are either in leasing or an analyst role, but there are some debt/equity placement gigs that come up here and there.

Just trying to find the best place to start, any advice would be great.

Thanks!!

104 WSO Academy Real Estate Session Reviews: 4.92/5

Class of '29 Sep 2026 Cohort

5.00/5

Real Estate Career Roadmap (optional)

“Nick was extremely informative and gave me a lot of solid and practical advice. He answered all of my questions clearly and thoughtfully. I really appreciated that he gave me an actionable plan for how to approach recruiting and developing my career in general. He was very open about sharing his own experiences. He also gave me helpful perspective on how to differentiate myself during the recruiting process and make my conversations with professionals more meaningful. I feel like I have a clearer understanding of what I should focus on and concrete next steps. This was overall a helpful and valuable conversation. ”

Class of '28 Aug 2026 Cohort

5.00/5

Real Estate Mock Interview

“Nick was fantastic. He didn’t just glance at my resume and give me generic advice—he explained exactly why it wasn’t telling the story I wanted it to tell, then helped me figure out how to fix it. He pushed me to be more intentional about how I talk about my experience and gave me concrete steps to prepare for interviews, from tailoring my resume to practicing financial modeling. I also appreciated how candid he was. When I asked about real estate capital markets versus sales and trading, he gave me his honest opinion while being clear about his own perspective. He shared interview guides, answered all my questions, and offered to do a more detailed mock interview if I move forward with JLL. I left with a lot of work to do, but also a much clearer idea of how to do it. I’d absolutely recommend talking with Nick.”

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Debt/Equity Placement —> Buy Side

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Debt/Equity Placement —> Buy Side

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