Real Estate MBA Curriculum for Students

Year One

First Semester Second Semester
Accounting Operations Management
Financial Management Economics for Managers
Marketing Management Managing Behaviors in Organizations
Data Analysis and Decision Making Real Estate Capital Markets: REITs and Other Equity Investments
Real Estate Finance and Investment Investment Theory and Practice

Much of your first year of study is spent developing a strong business foundation. Your first semester focuses on the functional areas of accounting, finance, marketing and operations. Your second semester includes critical managerial tools: economics, data analysis and decision making, and motivation and leadership. These core courses are policy-oriented, practical and cohesive. They provide an ideal foundation for leading any organization.

In addition, you will take three real estate specialization courses in your first year. These are foundation courses that address the financing and investment side of real estate. In your first semester you will take Real Estate Finance and Investment. This course provides foundation concepts and skills that you need for your careers as well as for further coursework. In your second semester you will learn about REITs and other vehicles used to facilitate investment in commercial real estate. In addition, as a result of increasing integration of real estate into the broader capital markets, you will take an investments course taught out of the finance department.

Year Two

First Semester Second Semester
Strategy Ethics
Real Estate Valuation and Feasibility Analysis International Real Estate
Real Estate and Urban Land Economics *Real Estate Elective
Contemporary Real Estate Topics *Real Estate Elective
*Real Estate Elective  
*Note: Real Estate MBAs must choose three electives in the second year. At least one of the three electives must be from the following: Real Estate Law, Commercial Real Estate Development and Advanced Real Estate Finance.

Your second year is focused on your career specialization, and most of your course work and applied projects will be done with others who have chosen your field of study.

Your third semester focuses on the “real” side of real estate. Two foundation courses, Real Estate Valuation and Feasibility Analysis and Real Estate and Urban Land Economics, are required of all real estate majors. These two courses teach concepts and skills that are valuable throughout your careers, regardless of your chosen field within real estate.

You will also take a capstone course call Contemporary Real Estate Topics. This course addresses detailed topics in a highly practical manner. Topics include design for development, tax, negotiations, deal structure, and market analysis. You will also take an elective course. Your final semester includes an international real estate course and two elective courses. As part of the international course, you will travel abroad to experience how real estate markets, projects, and people function in non-domestic contexts. Your elective real estate courses are capstone courses in development and finance.

Non-Real Estate Course Electives:

  • Fixed Income and Derivative Securities
  • Security Analysis
  • Corporate Finance Theory and Practice
  • Multinational Business Finance
  • Entrepreneurial Management
  • Bargaining, Negotiation and Dispute Settlement for Managers
  • Contemporary Topics, Venture Creation

Course Description:

General Business Core

Career Specialization

Professional Perspectives

In the first semester, our general business core delivers a coordinated perspective on key functional areas of business. The second semester addresses fundamental management principles, stressing application of these principles to functional areas. Courses in strategy and ethics provide important breadth to business decision making and are positioned in the second year of the program because of their integrative nature. The result is a solid business foundation that will be critical for success in your specialization and in your career.

Your reason for coming to Wisconsin is to focus on your chosen specialization. Specialized preparation begins the first year of the program and is the primary focus the second year. Together with others who have chosen your specialization, you will be immersed in the study of your field and develop an in-depth expertise. Your curriculum is designed especially for your area, builds in a coherent fashion over the two years and offers many applied projects.

This one-credit course offers a variety of enrichment tools. You and your MBA colleagues will meet weekly for practical advice on career development, candid conversations with business executives, communication workshops, team projects, discussion of topical business issues and more. Professional Perspectives is an important component of our curriculum, one that generates a strong esprit de corps, provides critical skills not obviously placed in any functional course and offers an opportunity to round out every MBA student’s leadership experience.

The Applied Real Estate Investment Track (AREIT)

The Applied Real Estate Investment Track is a unique track within the real estate MBA program. It is a joint effort between the top-ranked real estate department and the finance department's highly regarded Applied Security Analysis Program (ASAP). Selected students undertake formal coursework in preparation for a year-long course in which they will actively manage a portfolio of REITs and real estate operating companies. The program provides state-of-the art education in understanding not only real estate as an asset class but also the emerging capital markets associated with the asset.

To find out more about the AREIT program, contact Academic Director, Tim Riddiough.