<p>My options are:
-State University of New York at Stony Brook
-University of Arizona
-University of California (Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz.)
-University of Hawai'i
-State University of Oregon
-University of Texas at Arlington
-University of Virginia
-University of Washington </p>
<p>Leaning towards Virginia, Arizona, Stony Brook.</p>
<p>What I'm looking for is a good location to travel around a bit. Nice climate. Friendly people. Pretty girls, although its not like I'm looking for a wife so I don't really care about this one. Don't care about the academic side, there to have fun and do what is required to pass. So basically looking for a place where there is stuff to do, opportunity to travel around and most importantly have fun.</p>
<p>Hmm, where are you interested in travelling? If you want to visit NY and Boston then a school in the Northeast would be a judicious choice. The infamous cold in the NE wouldn’t fit your “nice climate” criterion though.</p>
<p>However, nice climate, fun… I would suggest a school in the UC system, like UC Santa Barbara. The beach!</p>
<p>Nice climate: Check (Winter high of 18C, Summer high of 26C)
Friendly people: Check
Pretty girls: Definitely Check
Having fun: Check, although the school is still serious academically</p>
<p>It helps to have a car but if you do you can travel throughout California where there is tons to do and see. Of the schools you listed, UC Santa Barbara and University of Arizona have the reputation of being “party schools”. Stony Brook is nice because it would allow you to explore the northeast United States easily. Hawaii is great but your options of touring the mainland United States would be limited.</p>
<p>I’ve seen flights as cheap as $250 US roundtrip (from LAX to LGA or JFK), however, I think it would be easier for you to go to Stony Brook if you’d like to explore the northeast United States. Also, public transportation there would be very easy. So I’d say go there if your main priority is to explore New York and New England. The disadvantage is that I think the social scene there will be a lot quieter, although you can ask on their forum for opinions on that.</p>
<p>If you do decide to go to the west coast, I’d suggest UCSB or Arizona over the other schools if you want to have a good time.</p>
<p>If you want to travel around the northeast, you should just choose a school in the northeast. Though you can probably fly for $300 (non-peak periods) you probably won’t be able to spend extended amounts of time there. If you study in the northeast, it’s much more convenient–you can drive around the area during weekends or short breaks.</p>
<p>I vote for stony brook also. The university is within walking distance of the train which you can hop on to New York City where you transfer to another train or bus to anywhere in the Northeast USA. You are also 1 mile away from the Jefferson -> Bridgeport ferry which takes you up to bridgeport where you can hop the train to Boston (instead of just taking the train all the way via NYC).</p>
<p>I have a friend who goes to Stony Brook and takes the train into NYC each weekend to party and meet with friends.</p>
<p>As other people have mentioned, UCSB might be your best choice for exploring Cali/LasVegas/Arizona and University of Washington to explore WA/OR and British Columbia(Vancouver/Victoria).</p>
<p>Stony Brook meets your criteria for being close to NYC (well an hour or so) and New England, however, I think your campus life will be inferior to the other schools you list. </p>
<p>I vote for the California schools. Lots to see and do out there and the right campus will be incredible for you.</p>
<p>hmmm well, I have been to California before, although not for school. And New England is really the place I would like to travel to. But that’d be like for a week or two, the rest of the time I assume I’d be close to campus basically so maybe it’ll be worth going to California.</p>
<p>Also for Cali they recommend $7000 US per semester, Virginia only recommends $4200. I don’t want to be overly cheap but that’s a pretty big difference.</p>
<p>Arizona looks cool (haha at the playboy thing) but it looks like its in the middle of nowhere. Maybe that would be a good way to bury myself in American culture though, get isolated.</p>
<p>Well, if you’re looking for a tight knit campus community, I’d suggest Santa Barbara again. There was a suggestion for UCLA too. That puts you right in the LA area, though academics will be slightly tougher and the community isn’t as close knit. UCLA has a big college sports following for it’s basketball and American football teams, while UCSB lead the nation in attendance for it’s college soccer team. </p>
<p>UCSB definitely beats out UCLA for partying, however. At UCLA, large parties are mostly restricted to the fraternity system, while at UCSB there’s a street with many open house parties. There are also large parties during Halloween in the Fall and Floatopia in the spring:</p>
<p>Unlike UCLA, which is surrounded by a huge metrpolis, the campus at UCSB is adjacent to Isla Vista, a somewhat isolated college town which is directly on the beach, and 13,000 of it’s 19,000 residents are students. This is what creates the wild social atmosphere. </p>
<p>At UCSB, you’re about 5 hours south of San Francisco, 2 hours north of Los Angeles, and 5 hours east of Las Vegas if you’d like to explore those cities.</p>