Real estate -> MBA -> Other industry

Curious if anyone has done or knows of anyone who did real estate post-undergrad for a few years, then received an MBA and left the industry. If you/they left the industry, what was the new chosen industry you branched into? I know it’s very common to do IB -> MBA, but I don’t hear of many individuals doing CRE then an MBA to then leave the industry, rather an MSRE/MRED. Is this common or not so much?

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It depends on what part of CRE you're in. If you're a broker/appraiser/lender/developer then not really an option to suddenly go into IB or corporate PE. If you're in a more "pure finance" role like acquisitions where you're just underwriting deals non-stop and financial engineering capital stacks then there's a slightly better chance that you could make a lateral to IB after an MBA (if only to just go into the real estate coverage group).Most people that go into CRE are people that realized they didn't like other asset classes or people that really enjoyed RE in their undergrad and came straight in, not many leave. 

 

Incredibly inaccurate, the skill sets you’d gain as a broker especially if you’re working on the advisory team are applicable to an IB role especially if you’re in a product group like M&A. I have seen people who have worked in advisory in CRE and have moved to IB RE coverage groups with/without an MBA, or even other great areas in IB. I don’t know where you get your info from but in the workforce if you have the ability convince someone to hire you and demonstrate why you’d be a good fit why wouldn’t you get the role? Let alone without an MBA, it’s something that has been done.

 
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All programs bucket you based on applicant profile. There are buckets for IB/PE, consulting, tech, corporate jobs, people who want to save the world and spent the last three years volunteering in Uganda, etc. Most people applying to the top programs come from IB/PE or consulting (I think it’s well over half). If you work for a tier 3 investment bank in a flyover state, it will be meaningfully difficult to stack up to the people applying from Goldman, JPM, and Moelis. It won’t be impossible; it’s just the other pieces of your application have to truly shine. That being said, I don’t think these programs specifically look out for the IB/consulting experience, it just so happens that those fields cultivate the sort of high stakes, impactful experience that programs look for. If you can prove that your experience is just as impactful, and you’re coming from an under represented field in the MBA applicant pool, I actually think you’re more competitive.

 

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