Qunerzhizhi

Hi there! I got an offer from Master of Science in Real Estate Development in Columbia U and another from Baker Program in Real Estate in Cornell U. Real estate is not a main stream choice so I cannot find discussions about these two programs. And here's my comparison. Columbia: Pros: 1. Famous around the world (Yes I'm an international applicant); 2. Location, location and location, it's much easier for you to have a coffee chat with someone you really want to build up a connection with; 3. Better ranking than Cornell Cons: 1. Total cost of $134K , including housings, personal expense...; 2. Only a one year program, once you start the first semester, you have to hurry to find a full-time job; 3. Low bar for admission of this program... about 90 positions each year? 4. Development oriented instead of finance oriented, though they add more real estate finance courses these years and you can choose many elective courses; 5. Bad reputation in our country, especially in those big name company...This is true since Columbia is a kind of safe school in the level of top universities (half of my classmates went to Columbia), and many rich but non-qualified students went to this school. So during job interview you are asked which university you graduated from, and you said Columbia, then well......... Cornell: Pros: 1. Also famous but not as Columbia; 2. Well-designed course structure, the required courses cover every aspect of real estate: development, finance and investment, statistics, securitization, with one summer internship and two field trip, domestically and internationally for each; 3. Under Hotel Management College and Business School, and Cornell's hotel management is awesome! 4. Total budge of $166K but for two-year study, $58K on average each year, cheaper than Columbia, and many positions for TA, RA, and a chance for scholarship; 5. Bar is high with class size of 25~35, each member is strongly bonded and spent a lot of time together; 6. Perhaps the second-best program of real estate after MIT Cons: 1. Location, location and location.It's said that there's not much entertainment or parties in Ithaca and you would climb mountains everyday on your way to college, thus networking opportunities are less; 2. Lower ranking than Columbia; 3. Feel lonely in Ithaca? At least I got such feedback from every alumni I connected with Actually, when I received offer from Cornell I was thrilled since I never expect a position for a newly graduate student in this program (according to historical record) and I told my families that this is my final choice; and not much emotion for Columbia's since this is a safe school to some extent (I know many are still waiting and admission process is competitive, so I'm not saying it's easy). But when I notice the Columbia ranks 3# and Cornell ranks 16#, and things about networking opportunities, I don't know which one to choose.... I have come up with some ideas...For networking, it's said Cornell has a platform of handshake (?) where you can reach out to every Cornell alumni and it makes your job/summer intern hunting much easier. If I want to have coffee chat on weekend in New York City, I can took a 4.5 hours bus trip and live with my friends in New York for two days. But I still want to know is there a big difference between Columbia and Cornell in the USA, I cannot find an answer myself since I'm biased and not local. And for those who have lived or studied in Ithaca, is that a big problem for social communications with such remote location? Welcome any suggestions! Please point out any mistake about facts of these two programs or universities, and I'm sorry for that : ~)

Two days ago. It seems that the decisions are released individually. They originally hope to release all the decision by 15th March, but now it was delayed...

Still waiting for Stanford SDC. They said that all the decisions have been made. It's just the Admission Office is taking time to send out the letter on Web account and they are not sure when the decisions will be released...What are they doing.....pffff

Not the same program, but also on the waitlist. I'll wait until the ddl. I think not many people would reject the admission...

I received the waitlist from MIT MSRED (real estate development) and I have to say that I'm super honored for being considered on waitlist which I have never expected, since I'm an undergraduate without any working experience.(Usually, this program asks for 3-5 years working experience at least...) As I'm not rejected, I'm going to try anyway. I don't want to get a bad result after getting something that seems good. But here comes my problem, what should I do for making this situation better? When I was replying the confirmation form, I also attached my updated resume and restatement letter to the email, since I've achieved a lot after submission. But I'm not sure whether I should send the email to the officer twice a week to remind him? Or should I email to the members in admission committee to restate my interest in MSRED? Some said that they finally succeeded in this way and some said that this might bother admission committee since they would receive tons of emails every day. Could someone tell me what I should do? This is super important for me....... Or does anyone have any idea of how many people get waitlist from MIT MSRED? What is the probability for being admitted from waitlist? THX!!!!!!

I'm applying for city planning related programs and I received my 1st rejection letter this morning from UCB. I know this program is highly competitive but still badly frustrated. It might be a little bit overreacting but it's how I'm feeling. This is my first application and the rejection lost all my confidence and hope for all my other schools. All the other institutes are more competitive than UCB I think and I haven't received the early notice from Upenn (the most matching one), which probably means that I have already been rejected, thus I have sent a Schrödinger's email to ask for the bad result. Hours before, I was still imagining about the life in Boston but now I can see the picture that I'm bursting out the next month, failing my thesis, staying at home for the rest of my life and watching all my friends get admissions.I have been losing bunch of hair everyday since submission and you can feel it's getting unreasonably thinner, just because I'm worrying for no reasons or the reason that I want to escape from. As an international applicant, I gave up the opportunity for Phd candidate and took a great deal of courage to applying for universities in USA. I know I should do something but just don;t know want to do to get normal again...

Haven't heard anything since submitted applications. Pulling my hair everyday while checking emails with a belief that more times of refreshing can make it a quicker reply... I think I'll be bold in a few days if still not receiving any update.

I'm an international applicant for MEM in Duke. It seems that an interview is needed to be admitted, but I haven't heard anything from that. I don't think I'm not competitive enough to get the chance for interviewing anyway... They once mismatched my TOEFL and GRE official transcript, so I'm not sure if they missed my name on email list this time... Any information would be appreciated