professional mentor and alum. trying to discourage me from applying to NYU MSRE??
it’s a bit annoying, I need his recommendation as it carries a lot of weight I imagine but he is telling me to not even bother and to ‘aim higher’... I have a few years of REPE experience and literally just told him I wanted a potential backup if I’m not accepted to the competitive MBA programs I’m going for. I’m a bit confused by this, he’s written me great recommendations before, is this intellectual arrogance or is this program and the NYU network not worth the cost?? Not currently in NYC.
Maybe they didn't accept him and he is still bitter......
??? No he’s an NYU alum. telling me to stay out of the program he attended.
Probably because they accept like 80% of the applicants to the program. And who would really wanna pay full cost, $100K+, for an MSRE? You could find MBA's cheaper than that.
I think he has a point - I've heard similar sentiments about NYU, which is why now I am broadening my MSRE search.
Also, FWIW, if you choose to do NYU (if your MBA's don't work out), you'd be in class with kids who would be gunning for the job you have now. People take the NYU MSRE for the brand name #1, but also to get in the door to CRE when they have minimal to 0 experience. If you have REPE experience, and you DON'T get into your MBA's, I would reconsider if you really want to do a MSRE in general.
Not hijacking the thread, maybe this will help someone, but here is my problem. At what point does experience outweigh your education? Why would you go MSRE when your classmates will be 22-23, with 0-1 years experience, when you (I) would be 26 with 4 years experience by the time school starts.
Do you really need an advanced degree to move past the VP level? Hell, do you need an advanced degree to do anything on the equity side? I know CRE is changing but I still thought the state-school kid with some drive, network, and luck could successfully make it through their career without any additional education.
This topic has been discussed repeatedly on several past posts. Yes, experience can outweigh the need of an advanced degree for many firms, and I think networking proves this in a lot of ways.
MSRE programs are really just a way to build or increase the size of your network, gets yourself more easily in front of people you couldn't through cold calling. For someone in REPE considering an advanced degree I would think that they are either pigeonholed and stuck in one area/role or the degree is just a checkbox that needs to be marked in order to qualify for a more senior position.
This argument can go even further just because some institutional firms like Hines have a higher preference for hiring MBA grads over those who have a MSRE or even a bachelors alone. Is that to say they don't hire from the MSRE and those without any additional degree? No, they could, and there are probably hires they've made who fit those profiles, but they more actively recruit from MBA programs so there's a better chance of getting a role like that through an MBA program.
It really depends on the OP and what he expects the advanced degree would do for him.
I don't see what's wrong if you have NYU as an option considering you said it yourself that its a backup to the MBA programs you're applying to. Its not as if you've already gotten in and are going next week.
He's an alum of NYU? Has he further elaborated on his experience at NYU and talked about what "aim higher" means relative to that?
he just thinks he could’ve learned what he did in an MSRE via self study, not by taking on crazy amounts of student loan debt. I told him he’s not just successful because he’s knowledgeable... NYU I supposed to have a great alumni network, likewise that is arguably the main differential between the best MBAs out there so how can you discount the value of that? He agreed but just said I’d still be better off just applying to an elite MBA (the plan) or some quantitative/hard skillset MS degree.
In 2022, the MSRE/D degrees are way overpriced now coming in over $100k. Most people will get a loan for this and that monthly payment gets very old after 5 years.
You can learn all the skills through diligently studying 12+ core RE Fin textbooks and serious modeling books and spending $1,500-2k max on modeling classes and really doing the nitty gritty cell by cell modeling work like Spencer Burton talks about. He also did a MSRE and graduated seeing a paucity of hard modeling skills (in the market and in likely himself) and set out to build himself up literally "cell by cell” to get where he is technically (101%) today. That is bootstrapping well beyond the degree. This is likely exactly what the NYU REPE Mentor probably meant with those monthly high interest student loan bills being a consummate trigger point.
The MSRE/D at its core is a practical professional club degree and the more people in that club who are warm or receptive to your emails, calls, texts, 'coffee walk and talks’, “Hey abc director of acq, I hear that there is a position at your firm, can you tell me more..." requests and the more local they are or will be after they finish their education the better. You have a very receptive NYU REPE mentor without going to that program. This shows that you don’t need an MSRE to make sincere and possibly career enhancing/life changing relationships.
I would look at google advanced searches focusing on company rosters and leaderboards and power linkedin queries and see where these alumni end up and who their teammates are. Look for hiring patterns and trends together with who jv’s with who and on what.
NYU’s MSRE may arguably have the biggest and most well-connected RE network in NYC but if you are already working in REPE and you already have mentor, you definitely do not need such a degree. Do the above searches a few times and you see experience (long, pointed, hands-on, with substantial responsibility) is the most important aspect in career progression, more than anything else, in this industry. Only purchase what you truly need and that by 'an order of magnitude’ is true for something like taking on well over $100k (w/+/-$30k~ in interest costs) in non-dischargable long-term debt.
Completely not worth it.
Mind explaining a bit more?
Why are you getting an MSRE when you have a few years of REPE experience? Unless you’re doing it somewhere very selective like MIT, it doesn’t make sense given your experience.
This is supposed to be the point of having a mentor - he should be able to explain to you why it’s not a good idea, but maybe he’s not articulating it well.
If you want to get an MBA, apply to MBA backup schools
There are certainly some companies that "require" an MBA/Grad degree to move up. I say "require" because these often aren't formal policies and you'll definitely see exceptions to the rule. If you're working in REPE full-time now, I see little professional reason for you to go to grad school full-time. I think you could make the case if you got into business school at Harvard / Stanford / INSERT ELITE MBA Here or if you received a full-ride somewhere (Top 20 MBA / or MSRE/Ds at MIT, Columbia, Harvard, or Cornell).
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