Courses of Study 2024-2025
Real Estate
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Master of Professional Studies in Real Estate
The mission of the Baker Program in Real Estate is to prepare the next generation of leaders in the real estate industry. The Baker Program in Real Estate offers a two-year degree program administered by the Paul Rubacha Department of Real Estate. The degree program is designed for early-career professionals with a passion for the commercial real estate industry.
The Master of Professional Studies in Real Estate (M.P.S. RE) is a multi-disciplinary curriculum, taught by a faculty with practical experience and academic expertise from several Cornell University colleges. The program includes 62 credit hours of coursework plus a required summer internship and participation in two real estate treks, arranged by the Baker Program. Prior to the start of the Program, students must have completed undergraduate-level coursework in accounting and micro-economics.
- Instruction mode: In person
- Program location: Ithaca, New York
- Length of program: 4 semesters; 62 academic credits; full-time study
The M.P.S. RE program is designated as a STEM program making international Baker graduates eligible to extend their F-1 visas for up to three years in order to work in the United States.
M.P.S. RE Degree Requirements
Degree requirements include completion of 40 credits of core coursework. An additional 22 credit hours of elective coursework give students the opportunity to pursue a real estate concentration and to further develop management and leadership skills. Concentrations include finance and investment; development; consulting and market analysis; international real estate; property, asset, and portfolio management; and independent concentration. All coursework, unless otherwise noted, is completed on an in-person basis on the Ithaca campus.
Semester One Core Coursework: Fall*
Total Core Credits: 12.5*
Semester Two Core Coursework: Spring
Semester Three Core Coursework: Fall
Semester Four Core Coursework: Spring
M.P.S. RE Requirement Areas
To complete the master’s degree, a student must:
- Complete 62 credit hours, which includes:
- 40 credit hours of core course requirements*
- 4.5 credit hours of leadership and management distribution
- 12 credit hours (minimum of 4 courses) in an approved concentration
- 5.5 credit hours of free electives (subject to approval by the student’s advisor)
- Complete a summer professional internship of a minimum of 8 weeks in length
- Participate in two real estate case study treks
- Be in residence at the Cornell University Ithaca campus for all semesters of full-time study. See the residency section below.
- Remain in good academic standing by adhering to all program requirements
*Note: Students may be required to complete an additional introductory-level finance course. Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate competency in introductory finance at the start of the fall term.
M.P.S. RE Concentrations
At the end of the first semester of the master’s program, you work with the program director to select from one of five predefined areas of study or design your own concentration.
- International Real Estate
- Real Estate Consulting and Market Analysis
- Property, Asset, and Portfolio Management
- Development and Sustainability
- Real Estate Finance and Investments
- Independent Concentrations
International Real Estate
Real estate opportunities exist around the world for those with a master’s degree and advanced knowledge of the industry; keen understanding of the international environment including management, communication, trade, financial, and legal strategies; and the willingness to work across borders.
Total credit hours: 12 minimum, chosen from the following list:
Real Estate Consulting and Market Analysis
Consulting, advisory services, and real estate market analysis rely on quantitative and analytical skills. The services span a wide diversity of activities within real estate, ranging from brokerage services to acquisitions and valuation services to financial advising. The growth of advisory services, notably through large companies such as Jones Lang LaSalle and others, illustrates the trend toward outsourcing activities in the increasingly complex real estate industry. Advisory services demand a commitment to working in a variety of contexts and the ability to collaborate simultaneously with a large number of groups and provide a diversity of opportunities.
Total credits: 12 minimum, chosen from the following list:
Property, Asset, and Portfolio Management
Property managers, asset managers, and portfolio managers have the responsibility for maximizing the performance and value of both individual assets and the behavior of these assets in a portfolio. They are responsible for formulating and implementing long-range portfolio strategies from which individual asset management strategies devolve. While asset managers typically focus on single properties within the real estate portfolio, portfolio managers are responsible for the fund as a whole or the real estate fund within a larger mixed asset portfolio. Property managers narrow their focus to the operation and management of specific assets.
Total credits: 12 minimum, chosen from the following list:
Development and Sustainability
The role of the developer is to orchestrate the entire development process from start to finish. Developers can be one individual outsourcing all the work to third parties, or a large firm which handles everything in house. Either way, the developer must have knowledge of nearly every process, phase and service involved, including site selection, market analysis, finance, construction, leasing, and sales – and it doesn’t hurt to have legal and transactional skills to handle the contracts and liability concerns present in development projects. Development is a dynamic business field with a steep learning curve. The developer is often required to be the first one in with equity and the last to get paid, but if the process is managed correctly, the payouts can be well worth the time and effort.
Total credits: 12 minimum, chosen from the following list:
Real Estate Finance and Investments
Real estate investment involves a variety of analytical and transactional activities. Transaction-oriented positions focus on acquiring or disposing of real property and assets, and may also apply to real estate corporate M&A and REIT public-private transactions. Investment specialists may be responsible for site selection, financial modeling, valuation, and the execution of the transaction, whether it is an acquisition or disposition. Acquisition responsibilities may also include strategic planning, identifying and analyzing acquisition opportunities, negotiating transactions, and packaging deals for clients, the company, or the business unit.
The real estate finance field is extremely diverse and complex. Employers range from pension funds, insurance companies, and private-equity firms, to commercial banks, private banks, and credit unions. Job titles range from investment banker, to mortgage bankers and brokers, and underwriters. Major commercial loan business is done with refinancing old loans, new construction loans, permanent financing, mezzanine debt, and acquisition loans.
Total credits: 12 minimum, chosen from the following list:
Independent Concentrations
The Baker Program’s curriculum is designed to provide an unmatched breadth of commercial real estate knowledge within the required core courses combined with the opportunity for each student to define a niche specialization by selecting a concentration. The independent concentration exists for those students who wish to develop an even more defined, narrow concentration, or wish to focus on an area outside existing concentrations. The Independent Concentration is typically pursued by students who have a very clear, defined real estate career objective and wish to use the concentration to further establish their niche specialization.
PROCEDURE FOR SELECTING THE INDEPENDENT CONCENTRATION:
Complete the Baker Program General Petition Form by choosing the “Independent Concentration” option to the Director of the Baker Program that sets forth:
- Name of the proposed concentration
- Rational for your proposed concentration (similar to an elevator pitch, where you explain your concentration)
- Proposed courses to fulfill the requirement of a concentration (minimum of 4 courses equaling 12 credits)
Leadership and Management Electives
M.P.S. RE Dual Degree Option
Dual Master’s Degree in Regional Planning and Real Estate
Students interested in the intersection of land use and urban development can pursue a dual master of real estate (M.P.S. RE) and master of regional planning (M.R.P.) degree. The roles of planners and real estate developers are frequently intertwined. By providing skills and knowledge in both fields, the three-year M.P.S. RE/M.R.P. degree program enables practitioners to pursue professional opportunities that require a sophisticated understanding of the real estate development process in the context of city and regional planning.
Real Estate graduate students who pursue a dual degree in the M.R.P. program should anticipate three semesters of residence to complete the core requirements of the real estate program. Likewise, M.R.P graduate students who pursue a dual degree with M.P.S. RE should anticipate three semesters of residence completing 30 required course credits in the M.R.P. curriculum with enough elective credits to total 90 credits in all. Students in the dual degree program are required to complete all core course requirements for both programs, plus elective coursework. In either case, it is important to apply to the second field early to provide an appropriate amount of time for admissions review.
M.P.S. RE Plus 1 Pathway for Cornell Undergraduate Students
Cornell undergraduate students are eligible to apply to the Baker Program in Real Estate through the Plus 1 Pathway. Applications should be submitted after January 15 of the penultimate year of undergraduate study. For applicants accepted into the Baker Program in Real Estate, matriculation into the Baker Program in Real Estate occurs upon conferral of the undergraduate degree provided two conditions are met.
• Admitted applicants must receive their undergraduate degree within the typical time for their program: By the end of the 4th year for students in 4-year programs and by the end of the 5th year for students in 5-year programs.
• Upon conferral of the undergraduate degree, admitted applicants must have completed all first-year requirements of the M.P.S. RE degree or be making satisfactory progress to do so for applicants who graduate one semester early.
The following features of the Plus 1 Pathway apply when seeking to satisfy these conditions:
- Students can complete their undergraduate major at any time up through their last semester of undergraduate study.
- Up to 12 credit hours of graduate-level coursework can count towards completion of both the undergraduate and the M.P.S. RE degrees. All other credit hour requirements of the undergraduate degree must be satisfied through coursework that does not count towards completion of the M.P.S. RE.
- Graduate-level credits that count toward completion of the M.P.S. RE must be taken at Cornell.
M.P.S. RE Learning Outcomes
- Baker Program graduates will have the ability to be forward thinking professionals in the real estate industry around the world
- Baker Program graduates will possess the business knowledge along with the technical and analytical expertise to solve problems encountered by senior industry agents now and into the future
- Baker Program graduates will create professional-quality written business documents from senior management perspectives; will plan and deliver professional-quality oral presentations; and will demonstrate effective behavior within diverse team environments
- Baker Program graduates will demonstrate acquired knowledge and in-depth expertise in their chosen area of real estate specialization
Academic Standing
To be in good academic standing, an M.P.S. RE student must:
- Successfully complete a minimum of 12 academic credits each semester; and
- Earn a minimum semester grade point average (GPA) of 2.75; and
- Follow the prescribed program curriculum and comply with all university, college, and program policies including any grade requirements for core courses.
Please note:
- Any student with a Graduate Teaching Research Specialist (GTRS) appointment must maintain a minimum 3.25 GPA.
- Any student with a grant or fellowship appointment must maintain a minimum 3.25 GPA.
- Students are also required to abide by the Student Code of Conduct.
Grades
- Courses in which a grade of B- or higher is earned may count toward the 62 credit requirement.
- No more than six credit hours of grades of C or C+ will be accepted for fulfilling the 62 credit requirement. Partial credit from a course could be used to meet this six-hour maximum: e.g., if a student received a C in two, 4-credit courses, only 6 of the 8 credits may count toward the degree.
- A passing grade below a C (C-, D+, D) in a core course will still constitute completion of that course requirement, but the credit hours for that course will not count toward the 62 required credits for graduation.
- If a grade lower than a C (C-, D+, D) is received in a core course, an additional course must be taken which reinforces the subject matter of the core course. Such additional course(s) will be subject to director approval.
- Courses applied toward concentration and management and leadership elective requirements must be taken for a letter grade if that option exists.
- Courses applied toward free elective may be taken either for a letter grade or S/U if that option exists.
- Up to 3 credits of ELSO courses may be taken as free electives.
- One case competition credit may count toward the M.P.S. RE degree.
Credit Limit
Students are initially limited to 18.5 credits of enrolled coursework, including S/U courses and excluding PE courses.
After each semester in the program, the student may request an increase in the credit cap based on the student’s cumulative GPA (grade point average):
| Cumulative GPA |
Maximum Credit Enrollment Permitted |
| Up to 3.5 |
18.5 Credits |
| 3.501-3.75 |
20 Credits |
| 3.751-3.9 |
21.5 Credits |
| Over 3.901 |
22 Credits |
To Request an Exception to the GPA Chart Credit Limit:
While very few exceptions to this policy will be granted, students may submit a general petition to exceed the credit cap.
Residency Requirement
M.P.S. RE students must complete four semesters in residence at Cornell University, enrolling in a minimum of 12 credits each semester. It is not possible to transfer residency from other universities. Students enrolled in the M.R.P./M.P.S. RE dual degree have a residency requirement of three semesters with the Baker Program in Real Estate. Students in the Plus 1 Pathway may have an in-residence requirement of less than 4 semesters.
Transfer Credit
Transfer credit for graduate work taken outside of Cornell is not applicable toward the M.P.S. RE degree requirements.
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