Anyone from tampa, florida?? Options

[*icecreamisyummy*]

any cB members from tampa, florida??? i'm planning on moving down there in summer and go to college over there and ill most likely have my own apartment. any tips???

[smoke]

I am! I was born there and lived there for a little while. I go down there like twice a year. It's pretty nice. I love it there.

Just make sure you have an industrial sized air conditioning unit and you'll be all set.

[*IVIike*]

i'm not from there but i have been there i love it

[*mzkandi*]

I live in Tampa, for over 4 years. I go to school at the Art Institute. What college do you plan on attending? As far apartment living, if you need to know some places to stay away from let me know.

[*icecreamisyummy*]

hey actually, i could use your help!!!! i do need to knwo what apartments to stay away from. i wanna go for graphic design and marketing... one at a time though. have you heard of the international academy of arts and design????? is it any good???? but yea i was thinkin HCC then transferring to university of tampa.

i was down in tampa in november and i loved it!!!! ive been to the east side of florida ( rockledge cocoa beach area...and hated it!) ive also been to orlando and didnt really like it.

thanks!!!!!!!!

[*mzkandi*]

PLACES IN TAMPA YOU WANT TO AVOID LIVING:

Suitcase city (I forget the name of the street) but it's near the University Mall. And not too far for the University of South Florida. It's called Suitcase City because of all the Mexicans that live here and it's all known for it's illegal immigrants. I use to volunteer in this area and I never experienced any problems and most of the people who live are very friendly but a lot of crimes does take place and it's one of those places you may not feel so comfortable being around at night.

Nebraska Ave - Notoriously known in Tampa as a high crime area, full of prositutes and drug dealers. I still remember my first time coming to Tampa and a cop pulled me and my family over and warned us to stay away from that area. If you watch Court TV and they are showing something that happened in Tampa , Nebraska is almost always associated with it. Lately though because of all the police enforcement crime has gone done significally since I've lived here.

West Tampa - This is near Ameria and some parts of MLK. My best friend lives in this area and I actually don't think it's all that bad. Alot of people give a bad rep because it's mostly a black and hispanic community and when crime does happen some comment that it's because of the people who make up this community. But I like this part of town. It's probably not an area you want to stay in if want to be close to the school you're going to. It's not near to any colleges.

I stay in Carrolwood, which is near Citrus Park. Yes, all located in Tampa. You'll have to get use to the different names in certain parts of Tampa. It's a little confusing at first. Also, alot of International Academy of Art and Design students stay in this area because it's in pretty close distance from the school.


I've heard of the International Academy of Art Design, I almost went there. Have you visited that school yet? It looks sooooo good. I also have a co-worker who is majoring in Interactive Media and she loves it. Their financial aid office will really try to work with you to make sure you can afford to go there and they also have a lot of scholarship oppurities. From what I hear there Graphic Design program is really good. I've seen some of the student work and it's great plus that have a very good job placement rate.They get more job offers than people graduating. They also help with on campus housing (and have housing in very close distance to the school) and set it up so your financial aid helps pay for your housing costs. The only thing is the school is really expensive.

I know a lot of people who go to HCC but I can't really say much about the school. I know there are about 5 or so different locations in the Tampa Bay area with the most popular ones being the Dale Mabry and Ybor campuses.

The University of Tampa is another expensive, private school but it's an excellent school to attend if you choose to go there. And it's campus is really beautiful.

I only like going to Orlando to visit, not stay. I don't really like the city (and those damn toll booths!) all that much.

[*icecreamisyummy*]

hey!! i was int he "citrus park" area in november my moms cousin lives near the mall.

one of the reasons im going to college down in florida is because its A LOT cheaper than colleges up here in the northeast. a whole $10,000. so basically tuition down in florida is the cheapest ive ever seen.

the thing about IADT is that you cant transfer the credits. which really sucks. ive talked to an admissions lady form there a couple of times and it seems like a good school. but idk if its one of those schools like ITT-Tech and those weird vocational schools that get advertised at 10am on tv so high school drop outs and young single mothers could see and want to attend.

how come you didnt go to IADT????

[*mzkandi*]

I sometimes work at the mall in Citrus Park!

but idk if its one of those schools like ITT-Tech and those weird vocational schools that get advertised at 10am on tv so high school drop outs and young single mothers could see and want to attend.

That was a concern of mine when I was looking around for an art school in the area as well.


Yes, that is something you need to think about, you can't transfer credits. It's not a bad thing if don't think you ever plan on transferring but if you think you would then it's something you seriously need to consider. It's definately not an ITT-tech type of school but it's not one of those prestigious art schools like Ringling. Most people I've come in contact are statisfied about their education there though.

As for why I didn't go, well, before I came to where I am now I was a student at the University of South Florida. To make a long story short, I hated what I was doing and decided to pursue something I had a passion for. I spent that entire summer researching and the Art Institute was something that I reccomended to check out. At first I was skeptical because, like you, I didn't want to go a school like an ITT or something. And I didn't want to go to one of those school where you finish your degree in 13 months or something. I had already researched what a graphic education should be full of and I took that knowledge with me with I went to check out the Art Institute The thing I found that liked at the Art Institute over IADT is that because it's a Fine Art's degree there is a lot of traditional art courses you must take before you even touch a computer. This includes Beginning Drawing and Drawing and Perspective, Color Theory, Principles of Design. These classes have helped me immensely because I can apply the theories learn in each class to work through design problems I may run into on the computer. Also, at this school they teach that as a graphic designer your most important tool isn't your computer, nor is it such programs like Photoshop or Illustator. In fact those programs and being proficient in them doesn't make you a graphic designer at all. Graphic design is a lot of creative problem solving. You will be spending a lot more time on paper working on how to solve a problem and reasearching more so then finalizing the idea in the computer. And I like that. It totally changed my perspective on what Graphic Design is really about. IADT offers a Fine Arts degree but it seems to lack such courses at Concept Design, Drawing and Perspective, and Principles of Design. Even with that said, that doesn't mean IADT doesn't teach these fundamentals as well.

Also at my school, like IADT, you can't transfer credits easily from the Art Institute due to how it's accredition is set up. That wasn't really a problem to me because I put in a lot of thought before I made my decision to go here and I'm here to stay. :D