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M.Des at Havard

fekim4

Hello Everyone, 

Looking at the MDes courses at havard, I was intrigued by the Masters in Real Estate Design and Development. (Columbia also has a similar course : Masters in real estate development)

Does anyone have idea about the job prospects and the kind of work one would likely end up doing after such a course ? .. 

 
Nov 15, 14 1:06 pm
DeTwan

lol....sounds about right!

Nov 16, 14 11:06 pm  · 
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midlander

OP- what is your background? I remember looking into this a little a while back and getting the impression that the M.Des program was open-ended and research based, and seemed more oriented towards planning and policy direction than many Ms.RED programs. The faculty mostly had backgrounds in architecture and planning rather than business or finance. If your background is in architecture you might find it less useful than some of the more business-oriented programs. It was however explicitly international in focus, which might be good if you plan to work for one of the multi-national developers.

But I've never met anyone who graduated from this program so I can't give specific advice about it. I'm sure if you contact the university they could suggest alumni to talk to.

In general people who study planning and development work either for commercial developers or local government agencies. With a developer they may be doing feasibility studies and planning schemes for buying and rezoning land. Often a lot of work overseeing the architects and planners and finding the information they need to complete their work.

For government agencies you might work to prepare reports on local development initiatives and urban renewal projects - these help inform decisions about zoning, infrastructure development, and land-use approvals. It's not a glamorous career, but if you care about how cities work it's gratifying. I don't think the career prospects are excellent, though if you're astute and good at networking with very different groups of people you'll do fine.

^CHI-GMP's statement seems to be facetious, and doesn't agree with my experience working with a developer. Most developers contract with specialized brokers who handle sales for them. Obviously if you are good at salesmanship that can be a big help in getting projects approved, but it's not the focus of this kind of career.

Nov 17, 14 1:49 am  · 
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