Best Real Estate MBAs in the Northeast
While a career in real estate is not one of the most popular options for MBA graduates, it is a solid choice. The U.S. real estate industry pulls in over $166 billion in revenue each year, and markets in India, China, and other emerging economies are poised to expand. So, the question is, if you’re looking to go to school in the Northeast, where are the best MBA programs to help build a career in the industry? We’ve highlighted five of our favorite Northeast real estate programs below.
The Best Northeast Real Estate MBA Programs
The NYU Stern School of Business offers full-time MBA students a chance to specialize in real estate. According to the school, it “provides rigorous training in the development, investment, and financing of real estate projects.” Students who choose the specializing are taught to think strategically about real estate in primary and secondary markets including the legal, taxation, and regulatory environments they’ll encounter.
Real estate MBA curriculum includes classes such as:
- Real Estate Development and Entrepreneurship
- Real Estate Transactions
- Real Estate Investment Strategies
- Urban Systems
Real Estate Outside the Classroom:
- Center of Real Estate Finance: Established in 2012, the Center is dedicated to expanding the School’s course offerings and career services in real estate. It’s open to both MBAs and undergraduates alike and offers monthly events, research and more.
- MBA Real Estate Club: The Stern Real Estate Club (SREC) offers guest lectures, panel discussions, mixers, site visits, and case competitions for MBA students interested in expanding their real estate experience and insight.
The Georgetown University McDonough School of Business also offers a specialization in real estate for MBA students, which can include an intensive learning experience (ILE) in real estate development. ILEs are elective courses that offer client-centered work and experiential learning opportunity off campus in a concentrated time format.
MBA students interested in real estate can take courses in:
- Real Estate Private/Public Equity
- Real Estate Private/Public Debt
- Negotiations
- Fixed Income Analysis
Real Estate Outside the Classroom
- Steer Center for Global Real Estate: The Steers Center “offers students unparalleled access to the real estate industry at a global level.” Students gain hands-on experience with the D.C. real estate market through a range of activities from alumni mentoring to internships, job contacts, and more.
- Real Estate Industry Career Coach: Georgetown offers a career coach with specific industry knowledge and relationships in real estate. This career coach will help MBA students with their resume, cover letter, mock interviews, and networking strategy.
At The Wharton School, MBA students can major in real estate. This major includes two required courses in real estate investment and real estate development. The goal of the major is to “prepare students to be leaders in the real estate industry” and provide the necessary quantitative and qualitative tools to be successful. Offered since 1985, the major has grown in scope and size over the years.
Additional courses in real estate that Wharton MBA students can enjoy:
- Global Real Estate: Risk, Politics, and Culture
- Urban Real Estate Economics
- Real Estate Law
- Real Estate Entrepreneurship
Real Estate Outside the Classroom
- Samuel Zell & Robert Lurie Real Estate Center: Each year, the Real Estate Center sponsors conferences, seminars, and special programs for students and faculty interested in real estate. Established in 1983, it promotes excellence in real estate education and research.
- Wharton Real Estate Club: The Wharton Real Estate Club provides career development, mentorship, and networking opportunities for students at Wharton. Of particular note are the treks and tours that allow students to meet prospective employers, visit project sites, and gain first-hand experience.
The Columbia Business School’s MBA Real Estate program “provides students an unparalleled opportunity to expand their entrepreneurial skills while focusing on real estate finance and investment management.”
The program encourages students to view real estate as both a physical and financial product by emphasizing a blend of theory and practice. Throughout the curriculum, students work on 65-plus proprietary real estate business cases taught by real estate professionals.
The real estate curriculum differs every term, but it includes courses such as:
- Real Estate Finance
- Real Estate Transactions
- Real Estate Portfolio Management
- Social Impact Real Estate Investing and Development
Real Estate Outside the Classroom
- Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate: The Center for Real Estate integrates the theoretical and practical knowledge of real estate. It offers regularly hosted events including panel discussions, conferences, alumni career breakfasts, and symposiums
- Fellowships & Scholarships: Uniquely, Columbia offers multiple fellowships and scholarships for MBA students interested in real estate. Awards can be as much as $50,000 a year and are both merit-based and need-based.
Full-time MBA students at the Rutgers Business School can customize their education with a real estate concentration. In total, students who choose this path will take six courses in real estate including strategic management. They can also pursue a dual concentration in finance and real estate, which requires them to take a course in aggregate economic analysis.
Other potential real estate courses that MBA students can take, include:
- Real Estate Finance
- Real Estate Capital Markets
- Market Analysis and Valuation
- Property Management and Real Estate Investment Management
Real Estate Outside the Classroom
- Center for Real Estate: The Rutgers Center for Real Estate is a dynamic hub for students, academics, and professionals. It aims to educate, research, and exchange ideas on real estate. Currently, more than 95 real estate professionals lend their influence to the Center.
- Rutgers Real Estate Club: The Club is a “place for people interested in real estate, internships, and everything business. It brings together experienced speakers for a variety of events and opportunities.
Where Should You Go? The Benefits of a Mid-Tier MBA
You have an MBA acceptance letter from both Harvard Business School and Cornell SC Johnson. Which do you choose?
Your gut reaction might be to choose Harvard’s top-ranked MBA program without a second’s pause. After all, aren’t business school rankings—like those compiled by the Financial Times and U.S. News & World Report—the most important consideration when choosing your MBA program?
In some cases, you might be right. If you’re most interested in reputation, then ranking is all important. However, there are many times when rankings should be taken with a grain of salt. They tell a story, but not the whole story, especially when it comes to you as an individual candidate.
Just because a specific school is top-ranked, does not mean it should be the top rank for you. Many mid-level MBA programs are just as impressive and could be a better fit for you depending on your needs.
In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at when and why you should choose a mid-ranked MBA program over a top-ranked program. Continue reading…
Inside NYU Stern’s New MS in Quantitative Management
Getting into business from a non-business background always presents a significant learning curve. And while most MBA programs can help candidates no matter the experience, it can still leave you feeling behind.
Luckily, that may not be the case for NYU Stern’s newly launched online Master of Science in Quantitative Management (MSQM) program. Explicitly designed for non-business majors, it helps students grow business fundamentals and analytics, all from the comfort of home. It’s officially marked as the “first and only top-ranked U.S. business school to deliver an MS in Management online,” according to a recent press release. Continue reading…
Wage Transparency, Rideshare Payouts, and More – New York News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from New York business schools this week.
Wage Transparency Works: Reduces Gender Pay Gap by 7 Percent – Columbia Business School
New joint-research from members of the Columbia Business School, INSEAD, the University of Copenhagen, University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School, and Cornell’s SC Johnson College of Business finds that wage transparency can help close the gender pay gap
Columbia’s Daniel Wolfenzon and his co-authors examined the effect of a 2006 requirement for Danish companies to report on gender pay gaps.
“What surprised us the most was the way in which this wage gap closed. Women’s wages did not increase at a faster rate in treatment firms as we were expecting. Instead, we find that men’s wages in treatment firms grew slower relative to men’s wages in control firms. As a result, the total wage bill grew slower in firms that were required to report wage segregated statistics,” Wolfenzon says.
“What is interesting is that the law has unintended consequences on women’s ability to climb up the corporate ladder and their willingness to join the labor market. When firms adopt fairer wage practices towards women, this can have positive effects on women’s labor market outcomes that go well beyond pay gaps,” UNC Kenan-Flagler Assistant Professor of Finance Elena Simintzi says.
You can learn more about the wage transparency research here.
Market-Driven Drivers: Dynamic Payout Ratio Means More Money, Less Wait – Binghamton School of Management
With the rise of on-demand services from ridesharing, we have become accustomed to getting what we want, when we want it. Binghamton University School of Management Assistant Professor of Supply Chain Management Jiaru Bai knows the secret to discovering how to handle impatient customers: data.
“Having a dynamic payout ratio almost always performs better than a fixed payout ratio, according to our model and data analysis,” says Binghamton Assistant Professor Jiaru Bai / Photo via Jonathan Cohen
Bai and her fellow researchers analyzed rides from Didi, China’s largest on-demand ride-hailing service platform. They found that the optimal solution is to flexibly determine the payout percentage, rather than adhere to a rigid, fixed rate.
“Basically, when demand is high, providers should get paid a higher percentage, and when demand is low, providers should get paid a lower percentage. Having a dynamic payout ratio almost always performs better than a fixed payout ratio, according to our model and data analysis, and it leads to benefits for all involved,” Bai says.
You can read more about the ridesharing research here.
New Research Shows U.S. Consumers Prefer Brands that Support Refugees – NYU Stern Experience News & Events
According to a new report titled “How Helping Refugees Helps Brands” from the NYU Stern School of Business and the Tent Partnership for Refugees, American consumers are more likely to purchase from brands that support refugees. This includes brands that hire refugees, deliver services to refugees, invest in refugee entrepreneurs, and source from refugee businesses.
“This report shows that consumers will reward brands that support refugees,” says Gideon Maltz, Executive Director of the Tent Partnership for Refugees.
“In a crowded marketplace, brands that integrate refugees into their business can distinguish themselves from their competitors, especially among millennials. This is a clear demonstration that brands can do well by doing good.”
The Tent Partnership for Refugees, founded by Chobani’s Hamdi Ulukaya, is mobilizing the private sector to improve the lives and livelihoods of more than 25 million refugees. Ulukaya launched Tent with the hope that the private sector is uniquely positioned to address the global refugee crisis, mobilizing networks, resources, innovation, and the entrepreneurial spirit of the business community. There are over 100 companies in the Tent Partnership supporting refugees across 34 countries, which can be found here.
Professor Tülin Erdem, co-author of the report and chair of NYU Stern’s Marketing Department adds, “It impacts brand image and consumer brand purchase behavior positively.’
“This is consistent with current consumer (especially the millennial consumer) preferences for brands that take a strong stance for social issues and consider the welfare on multiple stakeholders, including the society at large.”
The full report can be accessed online. For more, check out the recent NYU Stern article here.
The Big Picture: The 5 Most Important MBA Numbers of 2018
Each year there’s a ton of new information that comes out about MBA programs. From new rankings to the latest GMAC news, there are a thousand little tidbits that can overwhelm applicants, students, and alumni. We’ve collected the most important MBA numbers of 2018.
To pare down the news into the information you need to know, we’ve taken a look at the big picture of the MBA for 2018 and outlined the five most important pieces of data you need to know. We’re talking about everything from the decline and U.S. MBA applications to the increase in female enrollment, the higher salaries and GMAT scores, as well as the increase in interest in technology. Continue reading…
NYU Employment Report Reveals Employment, Salary Jump
The NYU Stern School of Business released its 2018 MBA Employment Report at the end of last month, revealing that more graduates in the Class of 2018 had accepted full-time job offers three months after graduation than anytime in the past five years. Not only that, many recent grads reported a large jump in salary and bonuses. There are just a few of the highlights from this year’s employment report, which also Amazon topping the this of MBA employers for the second year in a row.
NYU Employment Offers and Salaries Increase
This year, 93.7 percent of MBA graduates from Stern had accepted full-time job offers three months out from graduation. This was up from 91 percent last year, and higher than every year since 2013. As for compensation, average base salary jumped 6.5 percent year over year, to $129,059. Average signing bonus, meanwhile, increased 7.5 percent, to $35,637.
“We begin working hand-in-hand with our MBA students on the recruitment process before they even arrive on campus for their first semester,” says Beth Briggs, Stern Assistant Dean of Career Services. “Our early and continuous engagement, coupled with the quality of our students and a strong employment market in New York City, has led to great results across a variety of career paths. For Stern’s MBA class, the percentage of graduates who accepted job offers within three months of graduation is the highest in five years. Average salaries, average signing bonuses and the number of students reporting signing bonuses have also increased over last year.”
Consulting and Investment Banking Lead Stern Industries
When it comes to where Stern graduates work, the data remains consistent. Consulting and investment banking are the two most popular industries, luring 28.4 percent and 26.2 percent of the class, respectively. This represents a slight increase for both industries over last year. In 2017, consulting drew 26 percent and investing drew 23 percent. Technology and telecommunications stayed steady at 16.5 percent this year, on par with 2017. The only other notable changes in terms of industry appeal were a small dip in consumer packaged goods (falling to 5 percent, from 7 percent last year) and a slight increase in law (rising to 4 percent, from 2 percent).
“While the top three industries employing Stern students are consulting, investment banking, and tech, graduates are pursuing roles in a range of diverse areas including growing industries like fintech,” Briggs explains.
Amazon Hires Most Stern MBA Graduates
Amazon took the top spot for the second consecutive year as the most prolific hiring company of NYU Stern grads. Other top employers of graduates from the Class of 2018 included Credit Suisse, McKinsey & Company, J.P. Morgan, IBM, and Bain & Company. About 77.6 percent of grads accepted jobs in the Northeastern U.S., and 13.2 percent went West.
The majority of students (49.7 percent) received offers of employment from the companies where they completed their summer internships. Of those who chose not to accept a job where they interned, 20.1 percent received an offer from an on-campus scheduled interview. In addition, about 9.7 percent found their job through Stern job postings. The rest of the class found jobs through personal contacts (6.3 percent), external job boards (4.7 percent), or alumni (3.1 percent).
You can view the complete NYU Stern 2018 Employment Report here.
