UCSD to Offer Real Estate Major Starting Fall 2018

Photo courtesy of Frank McKenna.

UC San Diego will offer a Bachelor of Science in Real Estate and Development (RED) starting Fall 2018.

Housed under the Urban Studies and Planning Department, the major will feature classes like “USP 15. Applied Urban Economics for Planning and Development,” “USP 152. Real Estate Development Finance and Investment,” and “USP 153. Real Estate and Development Market Analysis.”

Professor Rabinowitz Bussell said the major and minor came about after surveying Urban Planning alumni and seeing that many had entered the field of real estate. She sees the minor as a first step in building a comprehensive program.

“Students will learn how to plan efficiently [and] sustainably, taking into account transportation patterns, mixed use of land, innovation, equity and social justice, green infrastructure, and more,” she said in an interview with UC San Diego Sustainability. “UC San Diego is the first campus in the UC system to have a minor like this. In the next 5 to 10 years, we hope to be one of the top ten with this minor/major.”

One-time Associated Students of UCSD (ASUCSD) Presidential Candidate and current President of Triton Real Estate Organization Dennis Yeh said that he believes the major will help address the stereotype that UC majors are too theoretical.

“Many of the new classes are taught by professionals in the field that will be teaching methods that are actually used in day-to-day work. One of the professors, Greg Edwards, is actually the creator of ARGUS, the backbone software of the commercial real estate industry,” Yeh said. “It’s also nice, as a UCSD student, to see the school take the lead…within the UC system by being the first to offer this type of major.”

Classes for the Real Estate Minor are already underway, but the major will officially begin Fall 2018.

Gabe Schneider is the News Editor at The Triton. You can follow him on Twitter @gabemschneider