I’ll identify a few additional lead generation strategies I believe I can have success with and see how well they align with various brokerages efforts to bring in leads.

That's a fantastic story and it's never bad to focus your efforts on something outside of Real Estate.

Also my thoughts is try to buy in the higher end one you will likely have more appreciation two you have fixed costs time and effort associated with just buying a property no matter what the price you buy it at. 

I am studying for an engineering degree, so I know I’m not going to be able to put a lot of time and effort into it yet, but any advice on how to begin learning and meeting people is very much appreciated (and hopefully there are others in a similar situation who could learn from this discussion, as well).

Sub-100 units almost isn't worth the effort because the economics doesn't work for syndication or off-site management. 

The do offer some protection unless improperly run, in which case they can be "pierced" with little effort. 

Don't expect them to make decisions or extra efforts.

SEO (of course).SEO gives you an infinite ROI because the leads are (practically) free.Not only are the leads (practically) free, they are also the best possible quality leads any marketing venue can provide.Thirdly, you only start to spend effort on these leads AFTER you know they are motivated and want to sell (to YOU).

I am going to be focusing my efforts in both flipping and acquiring rental properties when a good deal presents itself.

I bought the furniture, appliances, decor, kitchen utensils, etc... from my friend as a separate deal, used it to airbnb without much effort, took great care of the property for the duration of my ownership.