Hi.

I am a high school senior planning to attend college to study film in the fall. For someone my age I have had extensive training and experience in film (majored in it for three years in high school, worked on PAX television shoots, and worked as a PA on a feature film), so I am not going to school to discover if this is what I want to do, but rather to perfect my craft, grow as a person, and prepare myself for the professional world. I would like to be a writer/director, but I also enjoy producing, production managment, and assistant directing. What's really important is that I am able to make a living doing what I love.

I am down to my final three choices of where I will attend, and I have been accepted to each. Now, I have a month left to make my decision of where to go.

The schools are:

School of Visual Arts - located in New York, New York

Art Center College of Design - located in Pasadena, California

Hampshire College - located in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Unlike the other two, Hampshire is not an art school but rather a liberal arts school. Is having a strong liberal arts background with a focus in film more important than attending a school that really focuses on it and is located in or near a hub of filmmaking?

Then, of course there is the question of New York or California. Insider specifics on making it in both, as well as the filmmaking process and opportunities in each would be very helpful.

I am looking for opinions on where I should attend, and any information you may know about any of these schools that I would not find in the materials they publish.

Also, if you wouldn't mind adding some specifics about yourself to your post-- where you live, what you are doing in film, etc.-- so I know where these opinions are coming from.

Thanks