Real Estate Career - USC Marshall or UT Austin for MBA?

Hi All,

Admitted to both UT Austin and USC Marshall without any money. I am interested in pursuing real estate long term and am thinking about a post-MBA role in acquisitions or private equity. Both programs appear to have fairly strong real estate programs. USC offers a dual MBA/Masters in Real Estate Development program which allows you to get two masters on pretty much the same timeline, something I am considering.

I have lived in California for 10 years and love it here. Realistically, even if I attended UT Austin, I would probably be looking to get back to the West Coast post-graduation.

I feel like UT Austin has a better overall MBA reputation. Both schools have incredibly similar class profiles in terms of GMAT/GPA. USC would arguably have a stronger network in the Southern California area where I ultimately would like to reside. UT Austin's program is about $9k cheaper in tuition each year and has a lower cost of living, however I feel like career opportunities should outweigh short-term financial discrepancies.

Any advice, input, or insights? It seems to me that it is a question of reputation vs geographic location. Do you agree? How would you weight them particularly as they relate to a post-mba career in real estate

Thanks in advance!

 

Seems no brained to go to USC if you are staying in California. If you wanted to live in Texas then UT would be a closer choice. Overall USC is better in real estate I think because cali has higher prpoetry prices.

 

USC is a better school because of CA’s property prices? This is flawed logic. UT is a better school hands down. But, if one wants to work and live in SoCal, go to USC. Landing a REPE gig is not easy though, and USC is not the easy button to that type of gig. At reputable shops, you’ll be competing against more qualified people coming from higher ranked schools, but that’s ideally where the network would help.

 
Best Response

Would agree--USC is the best school in CA arguably for RE. Would be foolish to even entertain UT if CA is the end goal. My point was that asset values in the real estate market has no correlation to the relative 'strength' of a a business school. I also retract my statement that UT is better hands down, as I was mostly referring to the UG and Grad business schools. UT's UG business school is top 5 in the nation. MBA top 20. I'm not sure if USC has an UG b-school ranked in top 10, but thought it important to look at the business education without regard to overall school given 99% of us work in business and are focused on real estate/finance.

 
AAAnalyst:
I have lived in California for 10 years and love it here. Realistically, even if I attended UT Austin, I would probably be looking to get back to the West Coast post-graduation.

USC then, 100%

Edit: 8 minutes too late, but good on you for making the decision. Congrats, man.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

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