Thomas Toepke
Deciding to go back to graduate school was a difficult decision. At the time, I was working with one of the country’s largest privately held retail shopping center development firms in America. During my two years with the firm I played an integral part on the development team that was responsible for the construction of nearly two million square feet of new retail space. I was in a unique position with the firm where I could work directly with each division head within the company during each stage of the development process. I was participating in every aspect of the deal from sourcing, to creating the market analysis, to the preliminary lease negotiations with the tenants, to construction, and finally the delivery of the space and continued property management. I learned the development process from “soup to nuts” and had great mentors along the way. So the question I often faced was why was I deciding leave my job and go to Cornell’s Program in Real Estate? To me the answer was simple, opportunity. The Cornell Program in Real Estate provided a huge opportunity for me to further my education while being surrounded by some of the best and brightest people in the world.
The Program has set up the curriculum in such a unique way whereby we are given a solid framework of core classes but at the same time also the flexibility to tailor our education to our own interests. Because the program is two years we can drive down and really learn the details of any of the eight available concentrations. I personally have decided to continue on with development and have chosen that as my concentration. That being said the great flexibility of the program coupled with the strong relationships it has with Cornell’s other schools allows me to supplement my pure real estate courses with high level finance courses offered in both the Johnson and Hotel Schools.
Being a part of Cornell is very much like being a part of a very large diverse family. In addition to the program’s flexible curriculum there is also the very strong alumni network that we as future graduates have access to. After graduation in May, I plan on moving to the west coast and have already been able to call upon the extensive alumni network located out there for advice and guidance on the move and any potential career opportunities. Through my experiences with the alumni I can say that they all really enjoy helping out where they can.