Day In The Life Of A Real Estate Student

Wonder what is life of a Real Estate student? Hear from your seniors now! Today, we have Pei Si sharing with us on her experiences in the faculty!

Hi! I'm Peisi and I've graduated from NUS Real Estate (RE) 3+ years ago. The 4 years spent in the course have been enriching as the modules taught are in fact very applicable to adulthood, where f some may be interested or feel the need to learn more about personal finance, such as savings, investments and etc or for others, moving on to the next milestone, such as purchasing your first home.

Over the years, the curriculum had changed but the majority of the modules remained. I would not be introducing all the modules taught, as the essential and elective modules are mlisted under the curriculum on the NUS website. However, you can expect to learn some basics about stocks, bonds, real estate investment trust (REITS), the different metrics to assess an investment property, which can be applied to the assessment of a company if you're looking to invest into stocks in future.

For residential properties, you will learn about total debt servicing ratio (TDSR), additional buyers stamp duty (ABSD) and how to calculate monthly instalments for HDB loans or loan refinancing. All these may become very real once you reach your mid-20s and beyond. Not to forget valuation and the different factors to consider and adjust for when valuing a property. Of course, there are so many more interesting points!

Throughout the course, there will be opportunities for you to apply to an overseas university, where you can match your modules and experience university life in another country for a semester, as well as undergo an internship as part of your module. The internship is when you will be exposed to practical application behind all the theory.

Being a RE graduate, there are many paths to venture into. You may wish to consider if you are more intuitive with numbers or people to find out the path that you should take. Ultimately, it is important to do something you like. Be prepared to work 8-9hrs a day, for 5 or 5.5 days a week depending on the job requirements.

For many of you, it may be a little far off to think about university or career at your current life stage as you're busy conquering the soon-to-come PSLE or the 'O' and 'N' levels. My advice for you is to be consistent. As the saying goes, "Rome wasn't built in a day". Put in a consistent amount of effort when you are studying each day so that you will not burn out so easily. Strive to understand concepts and redo your practice papers if you have time. You will be surprised, you may still get the same question wrong as you did at the first attempt, if you did not register why it is the wrong answer. Do eat and sleep well too, as it will help you to be alert during your study sessions. All the best!

Done By: Lim Pei Si