Eligibility

The Real Estate minor is open to undergraduate students with sophomore standing or above who are in good academic standing and enrolled in the following academic units at the University of Michigan:

  • Architecture and Urban Planning (Taubman College)
  • Art & Design (Stamps School)
  • Business (Ross School)
  • Engineering
  • Information
  • Kinesiology
  • Music, Theatre & Dance
  • Nursing
  • Public Health
  • Public Policy (Ford School)

Requirements

The Real Estate minor requires a minimum of 15 credits in addition to prerequisites. You can take the foundational and elective courses in any order.

Prerequisites

  • Students must complete at least one course in economics at the University of Michigan or obtain a waiver from their home unit due to previous courses or mastery of the subject.
  • Prerequisite courses:
    • ECON 101: Principles of Economics I
    • ECON 102: Principles of Economics II
    • ECON 251: Introduction to Statistics and Economics II
    • ECON 401: Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
  • Test credits may not be used to meet the requirements of the minor, but they may be used to meet prerequisites. 

Foundational Courses

  • Students must complete 6 credits of foundational courses, specifically:
    • URP 390: Real Estate Design and Development Fundamentals, and a financial management course
      • FIN 300: Financial Management (BBA majors only), OR
      • FIN 302: Making Financial Decisions (non-Ross students only)
      • Engineering students that are not able to take URP 390 due to a schedule conflict can take URP 591 Financing Real Estate Development or URP 597 Acquiring and Repositioning Real Estate 

Elective Courses

  • Students must complete a minimum of 9 elective credits from a list of pre-approved options. 
  • The approved list of courses is dynamic and evolving; the latest version can be accessed here.
  • Only one elective may be below the 300-level.
  • Effective Winter 2025, suggested tracks will be introduced to offer broad flexibility in completing the minor. Students will have the option to commit to a single track or move between multiple tracks as they elect their coursework.
  • Students who declared the minor in or before Fall 2024 are not required to identify or follow a track. All courses previously approved to count toward the minor will still be applied to your requirements for completion.

Process for Declaring/Dropping the Minor

  • Students may elect the Minor on a “first come, first served” basis until capacity limits are reached. 
  • Eligible students may request a Minor Declaration Form from Taubman College by emailing the Student Affairs team at TaubmanCollegeAdvising@umich.edu. 
  • Completed Minor Declaration Forms will be processed by Taubman College Student Affairs who will then work with the student’s home unit to enter the minor onto the student’s official academic record. 
  • If a student decides to undeclare or drop the minor, they may do so at any time by emailing TaubmanCollegeAdvising@umich.edu.

Course Scheduling/Enrollment

  • URP 390 is currently only offered during Winter terms.
  • The majority of the elective courses that count toward the minor are open classes and you can register for them during your regular registration period for an upcoming term.
    • Select courses will have enrollment restrictions. You’ll need to work with the academic unit that owns the course to elect these courses. For example, you should contact Taubman College for assistance with URP 390 or URP 423, Ross for assistance with FIN 302, and Engineering for assistance with CEE 435.
  • Special topics or experimental courses often offer varied sections under the same course number. For example, URP 402 may be “Sustainable Design and Construction in Real Estate” or “Affordable Housing Development in Practice”, depending on the term. Pay close attention to the Course Title to verify whether a particular course is approved to count toward the minor. 

Major/Minor Considerations

  • Generally, all U-M students can only double-count one course between your major and your minor. You are encouraged to refer to your home unit’s specific policies and confirm details with the academic advisor for your major.
    • For Ross students, this course is FIN 300. 
  • Courses elected to meet the requirements of a minor may also be part of the student’s area distribution plan.

Transfer Credit / Study Abroad

  • We recommend that students take courses at the University of Michigan to meet their minor requirements. Courses from outside of the university (including study abroad courses) must be reviewed and approved by the program coordinator. 
  • To be considered for approval, the student must send the institution, course of interest, course syllabus and/or course description to Taubman College Student Affairs at TaubmanCollegeAdvising@umich.edu. The Taubman College team will then work with the Faculty Director to review the submission. 
  • Students can only use up to two courses from outside of the University of Michigan for the minor (no more than 6 credits).

Release Process

  • A student must earn an overall GPA of at least 2.0 in the minor, including any departmental prerequisites necessary for completion of the minor.
    • In their final semester of study (or as soon as they have completed the minor requirements), RED minor students should contact Taubman College Student Affairs (TaubmanCollegeAdvising@umich.edu) to complete their Minor Release. 
    • Taubman College Student Affairs will work with the student to confirm the courses the student intends to use toward their Minor. 
    • Once completed, a signed copy of the Minor Release will be provided to the student’s home unit.