Hi all,
I've been working in consulting for a firm specializing in healthcare/pharmaceuticals for the past 2 and half years or so. This was my first job out of college and over time I've specialized in organizational transformations and behavioral economics (for consumer/HCP marketing + employee transformations).
A few months ago, I decided that I would really like to pursue a MSRED from Columbia, MIT, USC, etc. through talking with a few family friends/connections who are active in the industry. The only issue was I had not taken the GRE and was dealing with a few personal matters so the application cycle has come and gone. My tentative plan is to now apply for Fall of 2025 with a plan to take the GRE this summer and get applications settled by end of 2024.
My only concern and what I would love anyones perspective on is that I don't currently have any experience working in real estate development or finance. By the time my application goes through, I will have been with my company for 3.5 years and by the time school starts, it will be 4 years. Is this detrimental to my chances of getting in? Should I consider switching to another job in the industry before applying and maybe pushing my timeline? With that said, I don't know how feasible it is for me to get a job here given my lack of experience. Any perspective would be appreciated!
There's no real "right answer" here in your situation, IMO. In a perfect world you pound the pavement and get yourself an analyst or associate job for a year or two, but that's easier said than done in this market. If you can somehow manage to quit your job, get an internship, and live off savings a little between now and then, it would do wonders for you, but if not it isn't the end of the world.
About half of my MRED class had real estate and/or real estate adjacent (architecture, construction, etc.) experience and half were straight out of undergrad. The half that had experience generally did better at both internship and full time recruiting, both I assume because of that professional experience and because they were 2-4 years older than the kids right out of college.
You are kind of halfway in-between those situations in that you're a career changer, so a couple years older and more professional, but from a fully unrelated career, and while getting a year or two of experience pre MRED would do wonders for you, there's also the argument that if you can get a development or acquisitions role without the degree, you don't really need the degree.
Is it really too late to apply for Fall 2024 though? We're what - 8-9 months from classes starting? I feel like I applied in February or March back when I did it, but I could be misremembering.
It makes sense that an internship or a job prior to the program would be advantageous for sure; I guess part of me is trying make sure not having that wouldn't be a non-starter for some of the programs. A lot of the programs I've been looking at have a January cutoff (MIT is 1/15, Columbia, 1/14, USC I could still apply to even without the GRE, Cornell + Georgia Tech have longer timelines but need the GRE which isn't impossible to do, but would rather apply to them all at once; I guess are there any other ones you would recommend/have heard of people doing well from? These are just the ones I've heard from the people the most)
Interesting. Hah, yes might be tight to take the GRE and apply in a week.
One point I would make is if you have a target city in mind, try to go to school in that city for alumni, networking, and in-school internship purposes. USC is a great program, but I wouldn't go there to work in NYC when Columbia and Cornell exist, for instance. Similarly, Atlanta is a great city, but if you want to go out west, a southern school like Georgia Tech or Clemson or something won't hold a candle to USC.
I can’t speak to the other programs but USC requires 2 years of full time real estate experience.
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