What are the best undergrad schools for placing in real estate finance?
Georgetown, Stern, Cornell...? lmk.
Also what are the best groups to break into real estate finance at a bulge bracket
Easily Texas A&M
Started in balance sheet, Cornell and NYU were most common colleges with Cornell leading the pack. I was in a regional office (TX) and went to a state school. Interestingly enough, even my regional office had Cornell and NYU.
Penn
No way, Penn people are too smart to be dumb lenders. BB lending is a snooze fest
As someone who transferred from a decent big10 school (Purdue, UIUC) to penn engineering (and I'm in the wharton clubs) these kids aren't even smarter than the top 20% of kids at my shitter, although that might be because they study business. So many people can't even do simple mental calculations, and I've met so many second-year whartonites that can't memorize simple things like the EV bridge... insane.
Obviously the top percentile is better, but these generalizations are no longer true (if they were in the past). All u gotta look at is how many wharton alums go to KPMG, accenture, etc
BB Real Estate Finance is more likely to mean REIB than lending. OP can chime in if he meant otherwise.
Real Estate Finance doesn't have as high of a barrier to entry than other careers but your bigger D1 name-brand schools are more recognizable and alumni networks there are typically deeper.
Every ivy league school and every big name state school
cornell hotel
Cornell Hotel by a mile. Cornell Dyson is good too, as you can easily tap the Hotel school's club infrastructure. Otherwise, just be a top student at any undergrad business program and you have a good shot.
Wharton, UVA McIntire, Stern, Georgetown McDonough all have good placement into REIB, MF REPE, other elite spaces.
Agree with all above plus UNC.
Ivies/Best school you can go to first and foremost.
That said I think you’re looking for a list like the below:
UNC
Wisconsin
Washington and Lee
USC
SMU
UGA
all have contingents of alums working in the business.
Obviously this is dependent on post-grad region somewhat.
All of the above, and there are some schools that place very well in their regions. SMU/UT-Austin in TX, IU for Chicago, etc. Name brand state school with real estate coursework and a strong GPA (3.8+) can get you in most real estate roles imo. This is my background and I’ve gotten interviews at Walton Street, PGIM, JPM for lending, Welltower, etc. You only really need Cornell, Wharton, if you are shooting for megafunds or REIB, but better school always helps. Wisconsin is probably the best value imo - would’ve gone there if I knew I’d 100% be in real estate
I'd say SMU is only really relevant in Dallas
Seems like best regional unis have the best placements in their markets. Pretty easy to tell which is the best among those.
It's Cornell - no question. Specific programs/courses, Ivy League prestige, large alumni base, etc
Penn, Cornell, and Wisconsin are top 3. Many other solid ones with dedicated real estate programs tho.
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