How important is a Masters Degree in REPE?
Just what it says... for high paying, REPE positions, how important is a masters degree to advancement? I asked bc I’ve seen non-masters folks get passed over for candidates with less experience, but a fancy b-school degree. I realize that’s not the only reason they may have been passed over, but it seems quite common in my experience.
Becoming a commoditized thing - I'm hiring an associate right now and I would say 65-70% of the applicants have MBA/MSRE/MSRED. Don't think that makes them any more interesting, but it does serve to compensate for other things (bad undergrad, meh work experience, etc.) if necessary.
I know there are endless permutations, but all else being equal; in your opinion, does the edge go to the masters candidate “on paper”?
In our case no because they're too expensive and we're looking for a relatively junior person. Otherwise probably yes depending on the program - I would say a non-top program probably hurts more than it helps.
I honestly think they are becoming too commoditized now. Too many people jump to grad school when: they don't get their dream job straight out of UG, they are bored and don't know what else to do, or look at too much WSO and think a grad degree is the golden ticket. Most of these candidates barely have a year of relevant, working experience.
Anecdotally, I have no grad degree and when I left my last position, the role was filled by a NYU Schack kid. So in that instance, why would I get a grad degree when these kids are taking roles like that? Telling me to spend $80k or so to end up in a position I got from my non-target UG? Nah I'll pass.
But what I think doesn't mean anything. The grad degree trend won't die, but to say you need one for REPE is nonsense - plenty of people out there right now climbing the ranks based off their skills with no additional education. Also keep in mind 2020-2021 has been an anomaly for grad school. I don't think we will see the volume of applications like we saw last year for awhile, especially if/when the market starts to heat up again, both capital and job wise.
Edit: typos
I don't know about MRED programs, but you can't really get into a top MBA without at least 2+ years experience, and the average is usually near 5 years.
I agree. My comment is geared towards MSRE/D since those have been getting brought up a ton lately.
I've said more or less the following on several posts of similar theme...
The marginal boost is falling as more and more people get grad degrees of all types, totally more "commodity" and common
BUT, the marginal COST to not having one is also growing, meaning if you are without, it could legit limit your career now or in the future.
Same thing happened with UG degrees decades ago, you used to be able to get all sorts of jobs without, now exec asst/office manager roles require them.
Lot's of employers will post jobs with BS required, grad degree preferred... then only look at the grad degree applicants (I think my firm does that, but I am not sure tbh).
Very well put.
Totally agree with this.
Might I add that people with grad degrees will lean towards hiring people with grad degrees. That’s human nature. That trend will continue.
I can only speak to getting an MBA, but the key reason to get one is not for simple advancement up in a company or within your vertical, it's for transitions. I got an MBA because I was in construction and needed some finance experience/education to move to development. I know a decent number of people who are in similar positions, started in construction and moved to dev with a masters (mostly MBAs but a few through MRED), and they all comment how they tried to move without it but no one would hire them. Sometimes you need that degree for the re-skilling opportunity (maybe not even through the coursework, but through internships. I have friends who could put together a deal in excel no problem but needed the internships to make the transition they wanted), and sometimes you need it for signaling purposes or even geographic purposes. It's important if you really are at a dead-end or see that you have limited lateral opportunities into a different vertical, but otherwise I'd say it's not needed.
And then there is the issue of credential inflation, year ago a bachelors was the ticket into the upper middle class, then everyone got bachelors so now you need a masters to stand out, etc.
I think real estate still isn’t as vanilla as corporates in terms of education normalcies, but could very well be on the verge of disruption in years to come. At the same time, it definitely isn’t peculiar to go to business school for real estate. In fact, your blue chip funds in gateway markets will appreciate it. But again, it I don’t think it’s a vanilla requirement yet.
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