Commercial Real Estate Financial Analyst Questions
I am currently a senior at UW-Milwaukee. I will be graduating this summer, and currently have a 2.79 GPA. I swam 4-years for the swim team which is a NCAA Division 1 program. I also have been working as an Assistant Property Manager for a real estate development company since March (10 months). When I graduate I will have over a year of experience managing over 1 million sf of class A commercial office and medical office space. 

I would like to use my finance degree and my real estate experience to try to land a position as a financial analyst. Going to a State school with a sub-par GPA, is this a reality? Also, what other positions exist that would play to my strengths of presenting, finance, and real estate? 

Thank you for all your advice.
[{"id": "cen527h", "text": "This is completely realistic. I graduated with a worse GPA from a lesser known school during a much worse economy (2009).  Luckily, like you, I had about 1.5 years of internship experience under my belt and landed another year-long internship (acquisitions/development) directly out of college.  I road the economy wave and am now the top analyst for the region in debt origination for my company, which is the one of the top in the industry.  \n\nWith real estate, employers care more about experience and dedication than grades.  That being said, your grades will prevent you from working for larger institutional companies like Blackstone, LIM, Goldman (Archon Group), etc.  I've recently been rejected from Blackstone and LIM because, while they were impressed with my experience, GPA is a required question. \n\nIf you are serious about a career in CRE, just stay focused and you will find something.  PM me if you have any questions, I'm in the Midwest.\n\nThe two top real estate job sites I use are selectleaders.com and yrep.Org.", "replies": [{"id": "ces1lfs", "text": "Just out of curiosity, I have had zero luck applying online for analyst positions. Is there a networking group that I could join that might help bypass the online resume sorting systems?", "replies": [{"id": "cesv1xz", "text": "ULI and ICSC, which are nationwide always offer decent networking opportunities, but there are other local organizations, depending on where you live.  \n\nWhen I was unemployed, I simply looked at real estate publications for projects that were occurring in the cities that I wanted to live/work in.  I would then email and call either the heads of the company or the people that were mentioned in the articles and try to get a lunch, dinner, drinks or even just a phone call.  This method landed me my internship out of college and then landed me my first permanent position there after.  \n\nThe goal in these meetings is not necessarily to get a job with that company, but to help build your network.  During the meeting I would always ask if they needed extra help or if they were looking to hire.  Most of the time they would say not currently (it was mid-2009).  The next step is the most important: always ask if they can think of any other people that they can suggest you talk to.  All you need is the name.  Don't depend on them to do the warm intro for you, do it yourself.  Call the person up and say x person suggested that you reach out to them.  Then repeat the process.  Follow up with each person you meet every 4-6 weeks with either an email, phone call or both.", "replies": [{"id": "cesvwlb", "text": "2 questions. First, what do you mean by projects and real estate publications? Secondly, when I follow up do I just check in about what we discussed in our first meeting and see if they have heard of any opportunities? \n\nThanks for all the help!", "replies": [{"id": "cesy4as", "text": "Here are three examples from three different sources:\n\n1. http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/article/20140117/CRED05/140119796/10-n-dearborn-sells-for-10-5-million\n\n2. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303819704579320902316499722?mg=reno64-wsj&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303819704579320902316499722.html\n\n3. http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/01/17/exoskeletal-hotel-renderings-released-for-wythe-avenue-hotel/\n\nI should note that I generally avoid institutional company's with this method because everybody wants a piece of them and the hit rate with actually sitting down with them is very low.  HOWEVER, if you can get a sit down with them and meet, their word/reference can go much farther than a mom and pop shop. Also their network is generally exponentially larger than the smaller shops.\n\nYes, you follow up and see how things are and if they have heard of any opportunities in the market.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cen65zf", "text": "Small world - I graduated from UWM in 2010 in finance and real estate as well.  I had a brokerage internship with Inland Companies (now Colliers) for 18 months in dt Milwaukee, and have since been a CRE broker in Illinois. \n\nI'm not sure where you'd like to work; Milwaukee, Chicago, etc., but would agree that an analyst position at someone like Blackstone, Prologis, Equity Office, etc. might be unlikely due to those jobs being highly sought after.  For a first time job out of college, a boutique firm or even a large brokerage firm like Colliers, CBRE, etc. have analyst positions, and could be a good fit.\n\nYou could also think about getting into brokerage - I'm biased though. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cexwv8j", "text": "Yes it is absolutely a reality!  Just not right away.  The important thing is that you will have a bachelor degree and you already started working.  The work experience will give you a huge leg up when you graduate.  Your GPA won't matter.  \n\nBrokerage is tough!  I have been in Retail CRE for two major national chains and we beat up our brokers :-)\n\n  \n\n", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]