Graduated College, 22 yo, new here, current climate of investing

[Julian Maso]

Hi, my name is Julian and I am new (and excited to be) here. I recently graduated college with a Mechanical Engineering degree and was fortunate enough to find a job. I do love occupation that I'm in, but truthfully after only one month here i realized that i dont want to work a 9-5 for the rest of my life for someone else. I don't mean to sound snarky, but i would rather put my efforts toward improving my Pockets than someone else's. 

With that being said. I have a little bit of money saved away, enough for a 300,000 house with 15-20% down. My questions are these:

Should i spend all of my savings on the down payment if i want to get into investing in real estate as early as possible? I have a steady income, but always having savings is a good thing. Especially with the way things are in the world right now (COVID), are properties still being rented out as often as before. I wouldn't know since i don't have the resources to know this. Also, i think this is the more important "sub-question:" With some colleges going to partly online / partly in-person classes, would it be advisable to invest in college housing rather than normal residing citizen housing.

I live near a college campus, is it advisable to buy a duplex as a first investment and "house hack" for some time. Rather than this, should i stay in my 1325 $/mo apartment for 2 years (instead of 1) and save up more money before i begin investing.

I know some about real estate, more than the average 22 year old i would assume, but in these forums i probably know the least. I'm conservative with my money so the usual investments i make consist of stocks and retirement mutual fund accounts. 

This is all i could think of at this time, i am excited to be here and be apart of this community.

-Julian