It hasn’t even been a month yet? The atmosphere here has been electric
during MBA Orientation Week and the start of classes – not to mention the first
Badger football games! Like the other 12 incoming Real
Estate MBA students, I began refining my resume and elevator pitch right
off the bat for WREAA’s “The Economic Tightrope” Biennial Conference held in
Madison on September 13th and 14th. During the conference, we were able to
connect with many real estate alumni from around the country, and listen to
panel discussions ranging from “Cap Rate Arbitrage versus Income Growth” to
“The Multifamily Land Grab.” This was certainly a tremendous opportunity to
start out the school year. Additionally, we have already hosted several
representatives from several companies, like Prudential and KTR Capital
Partners, who presented pitches and are actively recruiting.
Alumni Network
The outstanding and supportive alumni network
is one reason that I felt compelled to enroll at Wisconsin. Within the first
week, our real estate class was visited by local alumni working in the industry
who spoke candidly about their experiences and provided hints and suggestions
for future job opportunities. Building on this spirit, each real estate MBA has
been paired with an Alumni Mentor. I can speak from my own personal experience
in conjunction with that of my fellow classmates in saying that our Mentors
have provided us with early benefits in focusing our job searches.
Experiences in Madison
For all you food lovers, Madison has a lot to offer. The Farmer’s
Market on Saturday by the State Capitol offers a tremendous variety of local
produce and goods. Also, over Labor Day, my fellow incoming real estate MBA Amber
House visited “Taste of Madison”, a wide assortment of offerings from local
restaurants. Amber’s favorite dish, a creation of Sa Bai Thong Thai Restaurant,
was the Shrimp Purse, a delicious shrimp and chicken concoction wrapped in a
spring roll skin and served with their signature Green Curry. That same weekend,
another classmate Michael Zollner attended the 38th Annual Wisconsin
State Cow Chip Throw & Festival outside Madison in Prairie du Sac. In lieu
of a report, he recommends that everyone try out this unique Wisconsin
experience to get the full flavor of the event, so to speak.
Upcoming Adventures and
Activities
Our Real
Estate Club is hosting several upcoming events. We had our first meeting on September 20 with
Prudential as guest, and an October trip is planned to San Francisco. It will include site and development tours
(e.g. Google’s campus, San Antonio Station), and professional presentations by
Northwestern Mutual, Principal, Equity Residential, and more. Back in Madison,
four of our real estate MBAs, including yours truly, competed against the other
specializations in a Golf Outing on September 21 at The Oaks Golf Course in
Cottage Grove.
Jonathan Brown comes to Madison from Washington, DC, where he managed downtown Class A office buildings for Tishman Speyer. Jonathan plans to leverage his prior experience with financial and analytic tools gained during the MBA program to develop and invest in urban commercial properties.
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