Columbia has/had a dual major of arch and real estate dev. If I had it to do all over again, I might have chosen that versus arch at UCLA (turned Columbia down, had no interest in dev at that time)

But keep in mind, I've left arch, in the traditional career path sense, and have little interest in being a 'regular' architect. Development looks like a good career path, just know what you are getting into.

I was on the fence between pursuing an M.Arch and the M.RED. I opted for the M.Arch but through the pocess, I learned a fair amount about the programs.

First, to reveal any bias- the current head of the MIT program, Tony Ciochetti was a professor of mine in the past. He's an excellent educator, an academic with plenty of practical experience in development.

MIT's program is solid. The curriculum is a well developed, intense 12 month program. Its one of the longest running, if not the longest running, M.RED programs out there and for that reason its got a lot of postive history and alumni to draw upon. Lots of lectures with the leaders in the industry. As you student you can take advantage of university's top-notch economics and planning programs (and probably architecture but I am not as familiar as to extent it overlaps).

Several of my former coworkers went onto Columbia and enjoyed their experience there - however, for some reason i get the sense Columbia is more focused on the financial/banking/institutional aspects of the real estate industry.

A dark-horse candidate might be U of Mich's new M.RED, designed by Christopher Leinberger of the Brookings. The program is geared toward progressive topics in real estate - the development of good urbanism rather than sprawl. I fear if i mention that Michigan's program seeks to be 'new urbanist' in character, archinecters will start screaming and throwing their feces. I havent heard from anyone yet enrolled in the program so I dont have any other info on it as of yet.

Bottom Line: With the current state of affairs, the real estate development industry has become purely financially driven. So anticipate focusing most of your time/energey on topics like REIT's, CMBS, and the role of institutional investors upon the market. Lots of Excel. Think of the MRED as a focused MBA rather than a study of development itself (which is better handled through architecture or planning).

Did anyone hear anything good/bad about the USC M.RED degree?? In fact, I have got admitted at USC... and is current waiting for more replies from MIT and Columbia.

Being in LA, the hottest real estate market in the States, how would you value the differences with other programs, for example being in MIT, Boston?

Guffman: you got a M.RED degree from MIT??

I highly recommend the MIT program. Most of the students are already real estate professionals, which creates a good peer learning envinment. The curriculem is intense but time-tested. I TA one of their classes, and I really like the students and the subject matter. Also, designers are respected and valued in the program.

Urbanist:
May I know what and where are you currently working?
How did MIT's M.Red lead you to...?
I heard the MIT program based a lot on research, is that true?
What's the size of the entering class each year?

Garywg: No, but I have tremendous respect for the program at MIT. I earned an MPhil in Planning, Growth & Regeneration (a mouthful of a title) from Cambridge,UK. The degree was a mix of planning, urban economics, and real estate finance. Originally, i was planning (pun intended) to stay on for the Phd, but I later found the program a bit too steeped in bureaucracy (w/ regard to its emphasis on EU policy analysis) for my interests -although I enjoyed my time there immensely. I have a non-design related b.a. and opted to switch gears after the MPhil and pursue an m.arch to gain a better sense of the fundamentals of architecture & urbanism as well as gain better knowledge about the practical aspects of construction. I'm still interested in working as a developer in the long-term.

Prof Ciochetti managed to teach our course AND a course in the states simultaneously - x-crossing the atlantic every 10 days or so. yowsers. He's now full time US.

garywg,

I'm a current student at MIT, but in arch not real estate. I just have a lot of contact, through teaching obligations etc, with the real estate program. The program is professional in orientation as opposed to research-oriented, alhough the introductory finance course (which I took) is a little researchy... but I think that's the only one. There are 38-40 people a year.

Woodbury has one as well.

Thanks for all the response...

Regarding to the MIT program, are there any real estate program students taking any classes in architecture?

I earned a B.Arch degree 3 yrs ago...and I'm now trying to complete my knowledge at a business end of architecture. How to get finance to get a building build and so on....

Urbanist, I'm interested to know why would you be able to have teaching obligations with the real estate program in MIT. Do Arch Dept and Real Estate Dept have close connetions?

UPenn offers a certificate in "real estate design and development" for m.arch. students...

"Urbanist, I'm interested to know why would you be able to have teaching obligations with the real estate program in MIT. Do Arch Dept and Real Estate Dept have close connetions?"

The Center for Real Estate is part of the School of Architecture & Planning. As an MIT student with the requisite experience, you can apply for TA and RA positions as they become available in any of the three sections (arch, planning, real estate). Quite a few professors overlap anyway (Fisher, Geltner, Frenchman, etc).

"Regarding to the MIT program, are there any real estate program students taking any classes in architecture?"

Yes. You won't have time to do any studiowork, of course (given the full load of core classes in real estate) and they probably won't let you anyway, but you can take just about any other elective you meet the prereqs for.

So, it's not difficult to find someone running a design-build office nowadays, when one know well about architecture and constructions.

And it's also pretty common to find a firm doing both development and construction as well.

What do you guys think about the feasibility of running a design/development office?

Urbanist, are you in the arch or planning program at MIT?

I received my MCP from MIT in 2003 and took several classes in the Center for Real Estate. Those were among the best classes I ever had the pleasure of taking, eventhough some of the classes were incredibly difficult. (Legal Issues in the Development Process was among the hardest classes I ever took but it was so incredibly valuable.)

At MIT the dual degree of MCP-MRes is fairly common, with several students each year doing it. The MArch-MRes is less common but it has been done.

The MRes program requires at least one class that has some focus on urban design and architecture. Far from an actual studio but for some in the program, it's their first time thinking of real estate as something beyond dollars and cents.

By the way, at MIT, students in the School of Architecture and Planning can also be TA's in other programs, as well. I was a TA for an undergraduate civil engineering class.

mm: both

does anybody have any comments or knowledge about UPENN's real estate certificate program? I was accepted to their M.arch 1 recently and was interested in the certificate.
And also, does anybody know or heard of architecture school grads moving onto real estate finance sectors?

In fact, what's the general difference between a Master of Real Estate development and a Real Estate Certificate Program?
(of coz, it takes longer time to earn a master degree...)

how competitive is it to get into the mit program? What do they look for in a candidate? just a background I come from an architecture background with a bs in architecture from the university of virginia, and have been working for about a year. I planning on working for another year, half of it in china.