You can learn a ton about the industry and get an immense amount of investment and property knowledge all before you've done a deal of your own.I got licensed because of my interest in real estate and my desire for a real estate focused career change.

It sounds strange but lenders are allowed to put rules OVER the Fannie/Freddie rules...we call them OVERLAYS in the industry. 

Diversity in Industry – What are the major economic industries in the city?

Would like advice on markets to focus on - my key hypothesis is to focus on markets with decent employment rates, growing population and presence of contemporary industries such as tech, healthcare, finance, etc and not relying on manufacturing/agriculture.

For example, if you provide free laundry, prepare for your tenant to do some laundry parties or start a laundry business out of the house.Property managers may also not have the best treatment of the property since they understand the property would be in a lower value area, so I'd prepare for some excuses such as damage/poor screening not being their fault because the tenant pool is not good enough.That being said, you can still make a lot of money in lower value areas.

I graduate from my master's soon and I'm interested in breaking into the industry.

I see my funds as better used in the real estate industry, so I was actually pretty fast to cash out my 401k funds.

That led me to a financing career as an Finance Manager win the auto industry, where i stayed for about 5 years before leaving to have my daughter.

It won't get you any special treatment, but we are friends and it will help you break the ice with him faster.Good luck.

I would advise reading several books on it and partnering with someone in your market in the industry.