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Q&A: Behind the ICSC Undergrad Competition with CBRE’s Michelle Miller
Each year at Texas ICSC Conference & Deal Making, a group of universities battle against each other to test their retail knowledge. Faced with a challenging prompt, teams of four undergraduate students each overcome obstacles and answer key questions asked by industry experts to win the title of champion. Connect Media caught up with Michelle Miller, CBRE’s research operations manager for the Texas-Oklahoma Division and volunteer Industry Advocate for the University of Texas at Dallas team, to learn more about this year’s competition. Awards were presented in early November at the conference.
Q. What’s unique about the Undergraduate Case Study Competition?
A. First, it exposes undergraduate students to every facet of real estate, from leasing, sales and financing to community involvement, land use and working with government entities. Second, the participants have an incredible opportunity to meet and network with the panel of judges and conference participants, as well as interview for internships and jobs at an exclusive job fair. The competition is an excellent talent funnel for the future of real estate—countless past participants work in the industry today. For me personally, being a team advocate gives me, an active hiring manager at CBRE, a unique opportunity to see and work with emerging real estate talent before they even graduate.
Q. What’s the biggest challenge for each team?
A. It would have to be balancing the time required for proper case prep with a full-time academic load and family life. Each team has just over two weeks to prepare their presentations, after receiving the case study prompt. This year, one of the students on the UTD team welcomed his first child just days before the prompt arrived.
Q. How long have you been involved in the competition, and in what capacity?
A. I’ve volunteered as the Industry Advocate for UTD’s team each year since ICSC began hosting the annual event five years ago. The first two years I was a UTD employee. Though the role requires a lot of work, particularly when you’re not physically on campus every day, the effort has always been 100% worthwhile. This year, the UTD faculty was heavily involved, which made the experience that much more rewarding.
For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Texas Commercial Real Estate News Editor Amy Sorter
