Interested in getting into Commercial Real Estate but don't really know where to start.
I'm a student going into my 4th year of college studying economics and for the longest time I had no idea what I wanted to do with my career. But after doing some research, I think CRE would be a good fit for me. I would be willing to work in brokerage or research. I currently am doing an internship unrelated to CRE and am thinking that I need to take an internship during the school year in order not to be screwed for my future. Would the best way to try to do this be to cold call/cold email companies like CBRE, JLL, HFF, etc. along with smaller boutique ones? 
[{"id": "d5jf14b", "text": "Cold call is good, but face to face is better.  Most MBA or Masters in Real Estate programs take and include in the cost of tuition attendance to events such as ICSC, NAIOP, CORE.  Nearly all of these have local, regional, and national conventions.  ICSC has a NEXT program (Next generation of ICSC people) that often has local meet-ups at bars.  \n\nThey also all have steep discounts for students.  I think it cost me like $50 to get into the ICSC Florida Conference as a student, and after graduation it is like $500.\n\nAttending these events will be a great way for you to meet people face to face.  Be sure to find out what companies have the after hour parties and where.  People tend to loosen up around the open bars, and you never know, you may end up going on the tenant side of CRE.\n\nEDIT: From looking at your post history I assume you are in San Diego. I would recommend you hit the following trade shows and events:\n* * [ICSC NEXT Generation](http://www.icsc.org/events-and-programs/details/san-diego-next-geneneration/) - August 18- Stone Brewing Co - $55 as a non member - it usually gets you some free food and 2 beers with a name badge.  My advice is to spend the money before you  start sneaking your way in.\n\n* [ICSC Western Conference and Deal Making](http://www.icsc.org/events-and-programs/details/western-conference-deal-making/) - This one is going to be HUGE - August 30th - September 1st. - $50 as a student, $575 as a non-member.   [Just look at those exhibitors who are paying for booths](http://www.icsc.org/events-and-programs/details/western-conference-deal-making/exhibitors/), CBRE and JLL will both be there.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d5ji9iy", "text": "An internship is a great idea.\n\nRealize that a career in the brokerage side will be very challenging for your first few years especially. While your friends you are graduating with are getting reasonable starting salary paychecks you will be making very little at first. That's just the nature of the business.\n\nFind a company where you will get a lot of face time with a mentor. Being so young, you will struggle if you work at a \"desk and a phone\" style brokerage without more feedback, direction and the ability to learn from participating in other people's transactions at first.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d5jjvib", "text": "/u/yellowfin35 and /u/cbarrister covered some good ideas. I'd just add that you should exhaust your personal/family network for any connections in the industry.\n\nI'm a broker at one of the major firms and nearly all young hires (brokerage, research, transaction mgmt, etc) come from family connections.\n\nAsk your folks if they know anyone in the industry and get breakfast with them. CRE folks love breakfast meetings.", "replies": [{"id": "d5jkohd", "text": "As a CRE folk +1 for breakfast meetings.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "d5k1oz5", "text": "If no one in my family knows anyone in CRE, would my best option be just to cold email/call in order to try to get an informational meeting?", "replies": [{"id": "d5kwh52", "text": "Yes, but try to find some common ground with someone there first. Do your research. Did someone go to your school? Live in same hometown?\n\nAfter all, if you get into brokerage, this is what you will be doing anyway. In my market at least, you have about a 5% chance of getting a meeting with a simple cold call. To improve your odds, you have to either establish common ground or get lucky by catching them in the right mood (after morning coffee) or when the person is actually looking for a new hire.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d5jkn3w", "text": "Talk to your school's intern/career office. Talk to your finance professors. See if there is a real estate club on campus. They will probably personally know people in the firms you would like to be with, and firms are generally interested in getting eager students to intern in order to develop a pipeline of qualified candidates to grind through.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]