MBA Student Activities

Students in the real estate program are encouraged to participate in one of our most valuable student resources: the Berkeley Real Estate Club (BREC).

Membership in BREC opens many doors. Access includes:

• Urban Land Institute (ULI) Membership: Active BREC members receive membership in ULI. The San Francisco chapter of this highly respected education and research organization is one of the largest in the world. Two BREC members are invited to sit on the board of ULI’s Young Leaders Group.
• Real Estate Speaker Series: In the fall, BREC sponsors a speaker series which brings leaders and innovators in the real estate industry to campus to discuss recent trends and innovations.
• Conferences: BREC members are invited to attend or volunteer at conferences and meetings organized by the Fisher Center, and to register for conferences from other thought-leading organizations.
• Competitions: BREC members participate in a number of premier real estate case competitions: the NAIOP Golden Shovel Challenge, the Bank of America Low-Income Housing Competition, the UT-Austin Real Estate Finance Competition, the Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition, and the UNC Real Estate Development Challenge.

This unique event brings together current students and alumni to provide an excellent networking opportunity to build new connections, share experiences, reconnect with classmates and explore career opportunities.

The Opportunities in Real Estate Forum provides an overview of the Real Estate Program at the Haas School of Business and also covers curriculum, Fisher Center for Real Estate & Urban Economics, MBA Competitions, the Berkeley Real Estate Club (BREC), Accelerating Careers in Real Estate (ACRE) and the Career Management Group. The forum features a panel of alums describing their time at Haas and job search while in the program, as well as career path since graduating.

The Berkeley Real Estate Club and the Berkeley Haas Real Estate Group sponsor external real estate competitions: the NAIOP Real Estate Challenge against Stanford University and the Bank of America Low Income Housing Challenge against other graduate schools in California; the National Real Estate Challenge held at the University of Texas, Austin; the Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition, and the University of North Carolina’s Real Estate Development Challenge.

Membership on these competitive teams gives students unparalleled hands-on experience with real world development and investment banking problems and the opportunity to demonstrate expertise in world-class venues. They give students the opportunity to “focus their energies on something very concrete and highlight what the program can accomplish for them”, according to Professor Nancy Wallace.