Like many who choose to go to grad school, 29-year-old David Madison was in the workforce first. The New Bern native graduated from the University of Kentucky in ?03 with a degree in finance, and tried his hand at property valuation with a firm in Lexington, and later in retail banking with BB&T. Now poised to get his MBA from Wake Forest, David says he thinks he has a firm grasp of what will be expected of him as he pursues a CRE career. (BTW, since 1995, Wake Forest has run a Charlotte MBA program in SouthPark, which will move uptown in time for the 2012 spring semester. Tuition is about $58k per year for WFU?s two-year MBA program. Total MBA enrollment: 359.) Getting his MBA has ?definitely? made him more competitive, David says. ?It's a huge step up on the job hunt side.? David will be focusing his job search in the Southeast, including Charlotte, the Triangle, Atlanta, and DC. ?People know what skills go with having an MBA,? he says. ?It establishes credibility.?