Am looking to polish the resume and add some certificates for personal advancement and general knowledge seeking.
Have looked at some courses offered by ULI, NAIOP, and ECornell. Are any of these worth it or am I better off full sending a masters? Long term goals are to work in sustainable and energy efficient development.
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I can't necessarily speak to your goals of sustainable energy development, but I am in NYU's real estate finance and investment certificate now and feel like it's somewhat equivalent to a masters-level course (someone please correct me if wrong) but with less required credits. From what I can tell, all the courses I will be taking to complete the certificate are more or less part of the masters program. I could be talking out of my ass though.
I'm only doing this because I personally believe a MSRE is not worth it at this point in my career (an MBA is) and my company is paying for the certificate.
What made you decide to do the course apart from the MBA comment? How deep into development does your course go?
I figured my group would have a slow summer so thought why not do this certificate when I'm slow. It's really not too much work - I likely put in ~2 hours a week into both classes at the moment. I'm only 25 too so I believe in 2-3 years I'll be personally and professionally ready for an MBA. Plus, by that point, I imagine I truly will be burnt out from my job and the degree will be a nice reprieve.
My certificate does not dive too deep into development as there is a specific development certificate offered through NYU. But I'd imagine this is similar to mine in the sense it's not a full-fledged masters, but covers possibly 40-60% of the master-level concepts? Again, no idea here just guessing.
Edit: another note on the MBA is that my undergrad degree is in real estate & finance and have been in industry (and current market) since graduation. That's why I mention an MSRE is likely not worth it now.
Happy to comment given that I've been mentioned by Analyst 3+. But, since I've never done one of these, not totally sure how much value I can add. Still, since asked, my thoughts...
- Don't conflate any of these certificates with an actual grad degree (even if issued by NYU or MIT or whatever), they don't carry anywhere near the same weight on a resume. The firms that care that you have a grad degree (which are most high-end firms in major markets these days), will not give two shits about these when there are a pile of resumes with actual MBAs/MSREs sitting there. Will say, if you already have an MBA or JD or some degree with no RE coursework, these sound more attractive then going back for another grad degree if you want to get some legit coursework in CRE.
- Nonetheless.... they can still help a resume and are good ways to signal knowledge and interest... believe or not, many people trying to "break in" have no real estate degree or even coursework (and/or work experience), and yeah, I think these could legit end up getting your resume some additional looks (like I think there is a person in my firm who got one these and it was why they got an interview as I recall the story, they had a "related" degree but don't want to give any more personal details). So, def no negatives, and maybe helps convince an employer you know what you are talking about and capable of the job.
- Do it for the knowledge/skills, nothing else. If you want/need to learn the topic, this probably beats reading a book. If you didn't take these courses in college and need to learn the topic but don't want to go to grad school now or ever... probably worthwhile. Careers in CRE are hyper competitive, so these could legit help a 'weak' resume, and given the relatively low cost and time commitment, seems reward worth the risk for some.
- Since I was called out to speak to development in particular.... not really sure there is any unique advantage or disadvantage relative to other fields. The one thing I can see is if you can take actual CRE development courses, and you are an otherwise experienced CRE person (buyside analyst, IS broker, whatever..), then you could (in theory) accomplish two things that may help you land a job in development.... 1. Learn some actual development knowledge (not that I think an online class will do that much) and 2. Convince an potential development firm you are very sincere in your interest in development (tbh, this is where I see the biggest potential advantage, devcos like hiring 'hardos' who really want to be in development) and this serves as a signal of such. To be clear, its nowhere near as strong a signal as getting MRED, but it's still more than many other applicants will have.
--bump
Ignore my title, not a 1st year analyst have a few years of experience. I took the ECornell cert out of undergrad and it was helpful in terms of getting the basic understanding down and is only if I remember correctly around $2k. It didn't do much out of undergrad to land me a specific role and I would guess as a 3rd year analyst you have the understanding and exposure from real world experience.
I would say it's a general waste of time and money for you. I do not even have it on my resume, looking back I think it cheapens these school brands. You get a program degree from Cornell University, but thinking about it again any legit shop or team will look at this as a joke/probably think of you less since you did this vs going to Cornell's MBA program or a well known MSRE program.
It I looked at someones resume, even if they had good experience at say a well known brokerage I would think good background experience why are they taking this cert course from ECornell, I have resumes with kids that have the same experience and are actually in Cornells MBA/Real Estate program.
Currently in NYUs Masters RE program and I would say if you are going to do it, go all in and get a Masters RE or MBA from these programs. You can work while you go through NYU there is really no reason to take the cert vs get the Masters unless it's cost. Which even then you will get slighted because people are taking out loans to go through the program so cost is really not an excuse either. Even NYU, which seems to be letting more people in, has a great reputation in NYC and will open doors that a certificate never would. Even if the classes are getting bigger and acceptance rate is questionably high looking at NYU undergrad and their prestige, it is a great name especially if you network early and take advantage of classes, groups, and really use the name to get out there in your time in the program. I just started the program, if you have a real estate background that is really a plus and can get you in doors otherwise closed before.
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