Advice: What Minor or Major is Most Valuable?
Hey Monkeys,
I am a sophomore business student and I have a very weak idea for what dual minor/major I should pursue!
I know Statistics and Economics are fantastic, I tried to see if an Architectural minor was feasible, but no dice and the major is a pain - I would have mainly done it from straight interest. There are maybe 200 Liberal degrees that aren't serious choices for me and I just wanted to get y'all opinions.
Does anyone have particular advice as to what additional field would be super useful for someone in my position? (I want to head into REPE, pursue development as well, etc.)
Computer science, stats, math. If you're at a non/semi target. Remember, the key is to keep grades up. The more "valuable" majors are harder, but they're hard cuz you gain skills.
Absolutely agree, the most important majors aren't generally the easy ones. I will look deeper into Stats and CS!
Whichever one comes from an Ivy League school?
Honestly in real estate your major doesn't matter. Take finance classes and some electives that teach you how to write.
Will do! When you say "learn how to write," do you mean the academic writing and/or writing with finesse?
I would suggest anything that requires you to develop a thesis, research, and present your findings. The "finesse" you get from an english, creative writing, or a poetry class is not that important. Knowing how to present and argument and back your claims will be more beneficial (history, economics, politics, etc. come to mind).
If you want to be in the business world, you absolutely cannot go wrong with a finance major and a minor in accounting. I would try to sprinkle in some real estate electives, but keep your education as broad as possible. You’ll probably switch your desired career path 3-4 times between now and graduation.
I may have a bias opinion since I was a finance major, but I feel like unless you go to an ivy, lacking a relevant degree is an insta-ding. A lot of people say that you can learn everything you need to know on the job. I would tend to agree, but you’re probably going to suffer from black box syndrome and lack the fundamental knowledge of some very critical concepts. There are WAY too many people in this industry that can’t tell you what IRR, NPV, time value of money, etc mean at a fundamental level.
For you or in general? Because in general, tons of real estate people aren’t finance majors or Ivy League graduates.
People in general have fallen out of love with Ivy League students/graduates. I've seen people from local state schools claiming that their CS degrees are more valuable than a Harvard English or history degree.
To get into Harvard requires brains, work ethic, and/or wealth/connections, all of which are very useful to any and all firms. Choice of major doesn't make it easier to get in.
Noted haha, My school has a very broad idea of the BBA program, but I definitely wanna get the RE electives and accounting classes down.
I would minor in architecture. Not even a question, but your school needs to have a good arch program for this to make sense. Good architecture understanding makes the best developers and REPE guys. Anyone can learn finance, not everyone can or wants to learn what makes projects successful and relevant. This is how you create value.
I really really wish I could minor, but it seems the major is the only route for that. I'm honestly going to speak with a person from the college to see if I can MAKE a minor-Architecture seems so damn cool to me. I definitely agree that the minor would add value and add to my perspective of RE development.
Agree with the sentiment about math and statistics and comp sci from above. Take them as you have everything open to you should your interests change later down the line. Good grades there also tends to impress people a lot more
Nobody cares at all. Your major, even, is only moderately important to help you land your first real estate job. After that, once again nobody cares.
I minored in math, which was a good complement to my econ major especially since I thought about doing an econ PhD at the time. Also, if you say that you minored in math, people will assume that you're smart and have a decent quantitative IQ. The reward that I've gotten from having it on my resume has been much greater than the effort I put into it.
Finance and possibly an architectural/design minor if available. More important than your major/minor are your internships. Start networking and land those.
A combination of finance or accounting and pre-law. Understanding how to interpret contracts becomes more and more important as you move up the pyramid in CRE while being able to manipulate pro formas becomes less and less important. Pro formas are just a guess, a necessary evil because they are wrong 99.9% of the time. What is spelled out in an executed agreement is never wrong, it represents the framework of a venture/project and dictates all policies and procedures.
It seems like everyone has nearly the same take.
Go to the best school you can get into (adjusted per affordability for your life's circumstances)
Major in Business/ Finance/ Econ/ Accounting to show you are in the realm of business
Double major/ minor in an adjacent field of RE, be it whatever interests you most. This can be Architecture, Law, Accounting, Construction Management, or something similar.
The key takeaway is your resume should show some business/ finance understanding coupled with something unique to make you stand out. If you want to know a bit more about deal structuring, minor in law. If you want to know how buildings get built, minor in Arch/ CM. If you want to be the developer/ REPE person with a good tax understanding, minor in Accounting. Find your edge and focus in on that.
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