Masters Real estate chances

Hey guys- I am new to this forum and it looks awesome so far. Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.

I am currently graduating college and have been working in real estate for 2 years. I bought a house with fam and friend money, fixed it up and resold. Did this to 3 other houses and really enjoyed the experience. Last year I joined a real estate investment group and worked full time while in school. So I have one year of full time experience at a firm and another year through personal experience. I am now in the process of purchasing a 10 condo unit.

My goal is to start an investment group in the future and so I would like to go for a masters in real estate before I start my career. I have been focusing on particular markets and I need a formal education on how to analyze any property in all areas- to make a diversified portfolio. Because I am so young and don't have capital, I had to start with very cheap houses- which I am completely fine with.

I am looking to apply to a masters in real estate at Columbia, MIT, USC and Harvard.

1) 3 years of experience- 2 professional, one personal.
2) 3.8 gpa economics
3) 610 gmat 38/35

I know my gmat is low. I have an A and A+ in two math classes in college- if that helps. My quant ability is defenitely not that low. My question is would I have a reasonable shot or am I not what those schools are looking for?

Thanks for the help.

 

Sh*** guys I know- I was scoring 720-740 Mgmat ( hardest practice tests) before. Made no sense. Was so pissed. I knew for top MBA no way in hell 610 is going to cut it. For Msred will it or am I going to need to take it again. I called up MIT office they said average gmat for Msred was 650.

 

You don't need a MS degree to work in any real estate capacity. You'd learn more about RE working as an appraiser for a couple years (commercial or residential - depending on your long-term target). Leverage your experience, wait 2 - 5 years and do an MBA if you feel that you've hit your ceiling. You say you're young an need capital to invest - you won't have that money if you drop coin on grad school at this point.

To your point on if you're qualified for a top grad program - No. Retake GMAT or aim for a lower tier, if you're set on schooling.

I'll do what I can to help ya'll. But, the game's out there, and it's play or get played.
 

If you wanted users to give you an accurate analysis of your chances, you should provide an indicator of the quality of the undergrad institution you are attending, whether that be US News rankings range or comparable schools. A 3.8 GPA in economics at Harvard is a far cry from the same gpa at Boondocks University.

 

Retaking the GMAT can prove beneficial. I took it the first time and got a 660 when I was scoring 700-710 on MGMAT. Second time got a 720. Also - if you are not doing so already, check out the gmatclub.com forums. They offer lots of tips for this kind of situation.

 
Best Response

The RE masters degree learning would set you up to be better prepared to undertake more complex deals in the future. Even a 10 unit condo building, while a nice deal, isn't the level of deal I'm guessing you want to end up working on forever. Getting that advanced education is key because it gives you the entre' to the more sophisticated players, which gives you the chance to work on more sophisticated deals as an employee on someone else's nickel and get a track record before you go out and try to raise your own fund. I have a friend who took a similar path of doing lucrative but smaller deals and leveraged that experience + a masters into a much better outcome than just bootstrapping his way up.

That 10 condo deal is a great deal to work on and would be a great piece for your application beyond flipping houses-which is not something these programs have anything to do with and honestly don't place any value on as relevant experience. If you want to start a fund you will be bulking up on finance related classes because the deal structures are much more complex than the simpler deals you have likely put together thus far. Also, you won't be starting a fund right out of school unless your family and their friends are rich (maybe they are?) and you WILL need to work at an established fund if you want to get that sophisticated experience.

GMAT wise, its on the low side, but in RE masters progs, they are smaller and get fewer aps so its more about your background and experience, but if you've only taken the test once, get a 650+ and you wont have an issue with the high GPA, even from a state school (assuming it's a BCS type school). I think fit-wise your story makes sense too which is also important.

Last, keep in mind MIT is finance centered, USC and Columbia are Development, and Harvard I have no clue but I think it's through the planning school. Cornell's program lets you decide where you want to specialize as it is 2 years. NYU's is 2 years but I think 3 for people who do part time.

 

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