would GREATLY appreciate some guidance!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>okay, so i'm an ex pratt student, looking for a new school to attend.
i live in ct, and am kind of looking to get out of the northeast. though i love it here, and it's seasons, i'm just thinking that i want to live in a warmer climate.
i'd like to find a few good candidates around here but kind of want a new scene. i like the laid back character i find in a lot of people here so i'd like to keep that in mind for my move. basically i just need help picking state/ city that fits my needs and has a school with what i have in mind.
here are my guidelines:
*nice weather; not too long/harsh winter, not humid, not rainy all the time, pretty mild
*medium sized city; perhaps a bigger city like san fran, but maybe not too big, artsy, eco-friendly, things to do (music/coffee house/bars), young people
*possibly some public transportation
*college not too far, or at least easy transportation to</p>

<p>states in consideration: CA,OR,NC,MD,AZ,WA,MA,NY (safety),RI,</p>

<p>school guidelines:
*looking to major in some kind of art field, photography, film, design, (i want to be a set designer or production designer)
*possibly apply to some art schools, but not necessarily looking to be in a exclusively art school (pretentious competitive art students can really get to me)
*nothing extremely hard or requiring a lot of specific courses (no math or language requirement would be nice)
* anywhere between 2,000-20,000 students
*not extremely strict or religious
*wanting like minded students, who are free spirited </p>

<p>i had about a 3.0 in high school, 1650 on sats, some honors courses, decent amount of extracurriculars, overall okay student</p>

<p>thinking about applying for spring 2009, though finding some dont have spring admission so maybe applying to the ones that dont for fall
HELP ME SOON PLEASE!!!!!! DESPERATE.</p>

2

<p>New York as a safety state? That's pretty lame, everyone goes to New York. Maine is where it's at, or Oregon. Portland is a great city in both states, I hear. And Oregon State is pretty good from what I hear, but I only pay attention to Earth Science programs.</p>

<p>You mentioned Rhode Island, why not try RISD?</p>

3

<p>I basically live on the border of New York so i'm just thinking of the state as somewhere close to home. I love Brooklyn, but i plan to live there later in life.
On the idea of the Portlands, i've considered both and found schools I like, i'm just not sure about the weather. Maine is reallly cold and oregon seems rainy? Correct me if i'm wrong but i'm pretty sure that's how it is. Weather has kind of been a main concern in my search.
As far as RISD goes... i'm really trying to avoid the elitist art students if possible.</p>

<p>still open to suggestions though!!</p>

4

<p>Yes, Maine IS cold... I don't know much about Oregon besides that Oregon State is good and lots of friends have told me that "Portland, Oregon is the next big thing."</p>

<p>Anyway, I live in Maryland (at least for the rest of 08) and you really can't go wrong here except it's REALLY expensive. I don't really know about art schools but UMD - College Park is considered to be one of the best public schools in the country. Also St. Mary's is a public LAC that sounds like it might fit what you want.</p>

<p>Public transportation in MD (at least the Washington Metro area) is very awesome, I use it to get from my school to internship every day and I haven't run into a single problem (been using it daily for 5 months)</p>