I'm not sure any careers are all that better off at this point yet, but I'd be interested in knowing.

Anyone?

I was interested in a MRED a couple of years ago when I go laid off. Never followed through on it.  But I did find an article in the Wall Street Journal about job market. a few years back.

http://tinyurl.com/atrx566

Sorry,  you might need to subscribe to read the article. Try google search of the title and author

Tough Time to Enter Real-Estate Profession

By MAURA WEBBER SADOVI

this might work

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703703304576299370641709308.html

By MAURA WEBBER SADOVI

This spring, more than 1,500 students will be completing graduate-level real-estate programs that have sprouted in some 70 U.S. universities and colleges throughout the country. The job outlook isn't promising.

While commercial-real-estate hiring has picked up slightly from the darkest days of the downturn, jobs are still scarce and competition is intense. Some of those fortunate enough to find work in the industry have settled for less compensation than they might have received in the past.

"By no stretch of the imagination has hiring increased at a pace that would give a lot of comfort to graduates," says Anthony J. LoPinto, global section leader for real estate at executive recruiter Korn/Ferry International.

New grads are up against a deep pool of veterans sidelined by the recession who can offer more experience. That often makes them the first choice for brokerage firms, investment banks, private-equity firms and other major employers, Mr. LoPinto says.

There also are a lot more graduates from real-estate programs these days. The roughly 70 schools offering some type of graduate real-estate degree is up from about 34 in 1988, according to Gayle Berens, senior vice president at the Urban Land Institute in Washington. Recent additions include Arizona State University and the University of Maryland, which added programs in 2006. The University of Wisconsin added a global master's program last year to its other real-estate offerings.

Colleges have added real-estate programs as part of a broader push into a range of business degrees to meet demands from students and employers, to add to the breadth of their course offerings and to bolster revenue sources. The real-estate business also has become more international and—with the rise of public real-estate investment trusts and the development of new financing methods like commercial-mortgage-backed securities—more complex.

Many of these schools now are beefing up their efforts to get jobs for their students, who can pay as much as $60,000 in tuition over the length of the program. In 2009, New York University set up a career-management office dedicated to real-estate students that offers career fairs and job postings. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trimmed the number of applicants it admitted to about 25 from about 35 so it would be better able to place students in jobs.

Other schools intensified their efforts to prepare grads for working abroad. For the first time in the 25-year history of Columbia University's graduate real-estate program, students this school year were required to take an international real-estate course. At New York University, the number of organized trips that real-estate students took to meet prospective employers and familiarize themselves with property dynamics in cities like Hong Kong and Berlin rose to seven this year, up from three last year.

"Real estate traditionally has been a very local kind of profession—you knew the sites, you knew the local government and you played within your own sandbox. That sandbox has now exploded to include the world," says Vishaan Chakrabarti, director of Columbia University's graduate real-estate program.

But these efforts by colleges to get their grads hired are fighting strong headwinds. CB Richard Ellis CBG -0.39% says it is growing again and interested in hiring new grads. But often there are more candidates than job openings: The company received more than 1,000 applications for 30 openings in its 2011 one-year training program.

Jamestown Properties, an Atlanta firm that manages real-estate funds held by German investors, is likely to hire several new employees this year, says Matthew Bronfman, a managing director. Compensation for recent graduates with advanced degrees and some experience would be in the six-figure range.

Others have found that starting salaries barely have budged in recent years.

Graduates with a master's degree in real estate from the University of Southern California have seen the average salary for asset-management positions decline to about $83,000 in 2010, from about $91,700 in 2007. Average salaries for development positions fell to $82,000 last year, from $95,000 in 2007, according to the school.

Meanwhile, finding jobs overseas can be daunting. At Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, many students are in their early 20s and don't have the experience that international employers might want, says Cydney Donnell, director of Texas A&M's real-estate programs. The need for visas, the language barriers and geographical distance complicate matters, she says.

Still, there are some success stories. Michael Tornabene, who graduated last May from the University of Southern California's master's program, is working for Msheireb Properties, which is redeveloping the historic downtown of the capital city of Doha. "The competition in the [U.S.] market was so stiff, it made the opportunity to work [in Qatar] that much more attractive," Mr. Tornabene says.

Shawn Amsler, a 37-year-old student in Columbia University master's program, is talking to several Brazilian companies about working for them after graduating. He says there is a lot of opportunity as Rio gears up for the 2016 Olympics. "Brazil's got a lot going on right now, while the U.S is in the slow recovery cycle," Mr. Amsler says.

Thank you for the article.

I'm planning to enter this program this Fall. I currently hold a BS Architecture. While working in Architecture I worked with a lot of Real Estate people who has an eye for design but they hold a business type degrees or just had broker's license.  I believe even in a bad economy someone with this degree can still find a great job. There is always something to do with land development. Either building new structures or you're renovating an old one.

While the economy was down the commercial sector was working around the clock figuring out ways to make money and restructure their business. A lot of these companies either obtain larger real estate or shrunk and was selling. Smart developers were buying new properties and bad developers who was only chasing money went bankrupt.

If a Architecture degree allows someone to have at least 10 different career options I think a Real Estate degree can allow someone to have another 10 career options. And when the next recession happens and if i lose my job I will already have other possibilities i can pursue.

I wouldn't recommend Architecture students to not switch majors to Real Estate but add it. Better than a Master's Master in Architecture....Smh