Why Fisher?

[caption id="attachment_1014" align="alignright" width="274" caption="Kumar, Fan & Robyn in the lounge"][/caption]

So I am sitting in the Fisher student lounge with a few of my fellow classmates after an excellent discussion in our Economics class about supply & demand curves and how it relates to Organ donation. Sounds boring but trust me it got heated. So I have a few hours to kill between an MBA Intro Real estate class I am a Teaching Assistant in (a little bit more about that later) so I figured I would let you in on a little bit about myself and why I chose Fisher.

I was born and raised in Philadelphia, went to the University of Arizona originally to study business but found Regional Development, a major that focused on economic development and land planning, to be more interesting. While in college I had a few internships with different real estate companies and found that I really enjoyed real estate development. After college I worked in Phoenix for two different real estate firms but decided to move back to Philadelphia to work for a commercial real estate private equity firm that focused on industrial real estate. Have I lost you yet? So after working in Philadelphia for the last year and a half and after the real estate market/stock market crash, I knew I always wanted to go back to school for an MBA and figured that now was the perfect time to take two years out of the workforce.

In evaluating schools I looked at the top 30 list and took off the schools I either thought I couldn't get into and places I didn't want to live. I was also focused on programs that had some type of real estate focus. My list was narrowed down to five schools, USC, OSU, ASU, Wisconsin & University of Florida. After going through the application process and visiting my top choices (USC, OSU, ASU) I was able to really find why Fisher was perfect for me.

My interview day at Fisher was long, just as long as all the other interviews but what stood out was the time the people took to help answer questions after I had left. After meeting professors that had been recruited from HBS and Booth, I was thoroughly impressed with the teaching faculty and the level of participation in the classroom visit during a first year strategy class. As I was on the way to the airport I had multiple e-mails from people I met throughout the day asking what else they could do to answer questions as well as a voice mail from the Director of the Center of Real Estate (which i am now a TA & Graduate Assistant in), Ken Gold. Obviously not only did this impress me but it gave me the feeling that Fisher wanted me and valued me.

When it came down to it all of the schools I looked at had great programs in Real Estate but what stood out were the people at Fisher. The atmosphere here is unlike any other. People are supportive, not competitive, friendly, not awkward and most of all everyone is really smart! The caliber of student I have met here is higher then any other info session I attended at all the other schools I applied to.

So the group I was sitting with just left to head to a Deloitte info session and I have some time to kill but I see some of my other friends from class at another table. I think I'll join them before tonight's weekly social event.

-JB