Hi, it’s Will and Arizona, we are going to start this week telling you about our journeys into studying Real Estate and Planning at university!
Will:
I always knew that a career in property was what I wanted to do but I was never sure on which part to consider whether it be Architecture, Construction or Planning. Because of this, when my year 10 work experience came around, I knew I should seek an opportunity in property so approached my local estate agents. Throughout the week I helped with viewings, photographing houses, and answering the phone to customers. I really enjoyed it but didn’t want to rule out other options so applied for a virtual placement in year 12 with a construction company. Whilst much as the week was interesting, after partaking in a group presentation I subsequently decided Construction wasn’t for me. Due to this, I turned back to what I enjoyed doing and started gaining more work experience in estate agents throughout the rest of year 12.
I was lucky that a friend from another school informed me of a summer school at the University of Reading called Pathways to Property. Unfortunately, due to COVID, this took place online, however, it still proved to be invaluable and allowed me to meet and ask questions of current students and lecturers. This confirmed that I wanted to study Real Estate and Planning as it focused on the aspects of property I enjoyed and would diversify my career options in the future. I subsequently explored multiple universities and degree apprenticeships. I settled on Reading as it was one of the best in the UK for the course and I liked the idea of getting my studies done in 3 to 4 years rather than the 6 years plus that a degree apprenticeship entails.
Arizona:
My route into Real Estate and Planning has been far from simple… I was initially so set against going to university… but where am I now? In one of the best universities for my course. Let me tell you a bit about how I ended up here!
When I was younger, I remember watching shows such as “Extreme Makeover”, “Grand Designs”, “Million Dollar Listings” and “A Place in the Sun: Home or Away?”. Watching these shows I was always interested in how people would come up with the prices of houses, the whole process of actually buying a house and which house would be the best fit for that particular individual or family. I didn’t realise I had an interest in the property until the first lockdown came around. I went back to watching a few shows from my childhood and looking at property videos on TikTok. I would scroll through the comments and realise that I didn’t have the same sorts of questions or interests as other people. I was always thinking about the location of the property, why it would cost that much and what were the hidden fees! I then came to realise that this didn’t have to be a side interest of mine, it could be a successful career I could pursue!
I then started to research with my sister on how I could gain experience in Real Estate, and this is when I came across a scheme called Pathways to Property. I took part in their summer school which helped me gain a wealth of experiences to add to my CV; the scheme is well known within sector which continues to be helpful. Due to COVID-19, the summer school was online, which meant we couldn’t do a site visit or our presentations in-person. But it was still an interesting opportunity and enabled me to fill in the gaps in knowledge I had about Real Estate, which even extensive searching online hadn’t allowed me to answer. This experience greatly influenced my decision to study Real Estate and Planning at university.
Thanks for reading our blogs about how we became interested in the field. If you have any questions about our journeys into Real Estate and Planning, or any other questions about the course or university in general please ask! Will is going to take the lead on our next blog this week, in which he will be dispelling some common myths you may have heard about studying Real Estate and Planning.