Columbia Real Assets Division [CRAD]
Recent Member Placements (2025 - Present)
We introduce students to the real assets industry and equip them with the knowledge, technical foundation, and industry exposure needed to pursue careers in the field after graduation.
We start with the fundamentals of how real assets operate in practice and develop students’ understanding of the financial, investment, and market concepts that underpin the industry. Leveraging our Manhattan location, we complement that foundation with direct exposure to some of the city’s most ambitious sites. We also provide recruiting guidance and foster connections with firms across the broader real assets ecosystem.
Our Initiatives
Foundations
We seek to understand how the industry operates through development to investment:
- What career paths exist
- Real estate markets and sectors
- Asset & corporate-level valuations
- Infrastructure assets and systems
- How to underwrite investments
Site Visits
We ride the subway down to visit the most prominent ongoing projects across NYC, aiming to:
- Observe the development process
- Understand the target market
- Talk to asset-level managers
- Rationalize the investment thesis
- Get exclusive skyline views
Meet the Managers
We partner with leading investment banks, private equity firms, and developers on events to:
- Explore the range of opportunities
- Build and grow one’s network
- Understand recruitment processes
History
Originally founded in 2019 as the Columbia Real Estate Group [CREG], the organization was the only undergraduate student group focused on the real estate industry and asset class. Through strategic partnerships with other student organizations and by leveraging Columbia’s extensive alumni network, it quickly established itself as a prominent presence on campus.
