While AI comes for high-paying jobs like coding and consulting, many Gen Zers are stuck on what they should study in college—or if they should even shell out for a costly diploma at all. Luckily, there’s one profession that doesn’t require a degree and can lead to multimillion-dollar success: real estate.
Industry powerhouse and Million Dollar Listing star Fredrik Eklund didn’t even have a bachelor’s degree in the profession when he touched down in the U.S.—he took a brief course, and was off to the races. But Eklund tells Fortune even that isn’t needed.
“There’s a four-year college degree to get your license here. I took an accelerated course [at] NYU, which is two or three weeks,” Eklund says. “So [going] to college? You don’t even need to.”
While Eklund hasn’t written off a four-year degree as a way to learn how to crunch numbers and get a foot in the real-estate world, he says there are a few crucial skills that industry hopefuls can’t learn in college.
“Of course, school is always good from a social point of view, and it’s really good to always learn. But what is the curriculum, and how is that [you’re] keeping up with today’s society?” Eklund explains. “For real estate, it’s a very data-driven job to know every address, know every co-op and condo board, know every street, and know every price point. And then it’s about communication skills and really learning to negotiate. It’s hard to learn all of those things in school.”
While a seven-figure career without a degree sounds like a dream for Gen Z, Eklund also warns that success doesn’t always come swiftly.
Just a few years in, Eklund says he wanted to throw in the towel despite doing relatively well for himself. But it took half a decade to really absorb the profession by constantly hitting the streets—learning things he wouldn’t encounter in a classroom, alongside people with invaluable industry expertise.
“It’s an art and it’s a craft, and the only way to learn is the hard way. You cannot really learn it in school,” Eklund says.
“[You’ve] gotta be out on the streets, the mean streets. That’s my first tip. The other one would be to start on a team, and just sit and learn and absorb all the knowledge. Because once again, you can’t learn it by yourself. I lost a lot of years by trying to do it myself.”
More in-person industries requiring human interaction—like healthcare, and even real estate—might be a safer route for success than majoring in consulting or engineering. Right now, jobs like nursing and equipment sterilization are seen as safe harbors from automation and recessionary impacts. For those Gen Zers not wanting to pursue degrees or take up trade work like plumbing and carpentry, real estate might be the play—if they’re willing to hustle.
