Real Estate Development degree

[Melvin Johnson]

Hello BP,

I live in the LA area and am planning on applying to a Real Estate Development program  at USC. I'm curious if anyone here has graduated from or is attending this program. Even if you haven't, as seasoned investors, what are your thoughts on Graduate school RE programs. It seems to me that they'd be helpful in obtaining even a foundation for the wide breadth of knowledge that is the RE investment world. 

[Don Konipol]

A friend of mine, with an MBA and a job in the financial services industry decided to change careers and go into real estate.  She completed her Master in RE Development at USC, and has been well satisfied with the quality of education as well as the networking contacts.

The program offered at Southern Cal is what I refer to as REAL education, in contrast to the crap offered by the over promoted, over hyped, get rich in real estate guru crowd such as Rich Dad, (President) Trump University, Carlton Sheets, etc.  Looking at the educational backgrounds of the top real estate investors/developers/executives in the country, one sees degrees from NYU, Columbia, Wharton, Michigan, Harvard; none list the Russ Whitney three day real estate independence system or Robert Allen's Nothing Down seminars.