Zicklin Students Take First Place in National Real Estate Competition

The Zicklin School of Business has long been known for its excellent finance and accounting programs, which outperform those of many private colleges. Now its real estate program is also gaining attention for punching above its weight.

Kolatau, Brownlie, Ramsaran, Tejada (left to right)

A team of Zicklin School undergraduates, plus a City College student, went up against 47 university teams nationwide, including NYU and Columbia—and won a major real estate case competition.

Real estate majors Viktar Kolatau and Samantha Brownlie and finance majors Kareena Ramsaran and Yancel Tejada (all BBA, ’26) took first place in the NYU Schack Creative Opportunities in Real Estate (CORE) Competition, winning $10,000 and the honor of being the only undergraduate finalists.

The competition gave students real-life experience in real estate consulting. They spent two months studying The Smile, a real estate development in East Harlem, and proposed strategies to restructure its funding and improve its financial position.

“As an undergraduate group that had never competed before, in the final round they beat teams representing two of the best real estate graduate schools in the U.S.,” said Lecturer Robert Buchsbaum (William Newman Department of Real Estate), who advised the team. “This is an incredible accomplishment that is the definition of ‘Zicklin grit’—strength, tenacity, creativity, and resourcefulness.”

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