California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (commonly Cal Poly SLO) is a public university in San Luis Obispo, California, founded in 1901. It is known for its "Learn by Doing" approach — a hands-on, applied model of education that emphasizes practical experience alongside academic theory across its colleges of engineering, agriculture, business, architecture, science, and liberal arts.
Business programs are housed in the Orfalea College of Business, established in 1959 and later named for Kinko's founder Paul Orfalea. The college's Bachelor of Science in Business Administration offers a Real Estate Finance concentration, which applies finance, economics, and quantitative methods to real estate markets and investment analysis. Coursework spans real estate law, property appraisal, and capital markets, with exposure to industry practice through case studies, guest speakers, field trips, and professional licensing — preparing students for careers in brokerage, development finance, acquisition analysis, and real estate capital markets.
I earned my BS in Business Administration with a Real Estate Finance concentration here in 2010, and I founded the university's Real Estate Club along the way. It's where the work I do now first took shape.