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Let me also reiterate... I'm not looking for "college life." Been there, done that. That phase of my life will be coming to an end less than four months from now-- I am graduating from ASU with a B.A. in English literature. The MS in Accounting program I'm talking about is a part time program, night classes that are meant for working people. I plan on finding an internship/job during the day and taking classes at night, until I knock out that degree, then I plan to begin the CPA certification process and seek out a position with a public accounting firm.
Of the four cities I mentioned here, Tucson is probably the least realistic career-wise. I happen to like Tucson, but I just kind of doubt there is much in the way of accounting jobs there. It has the population of a medium sized city (almost 1 million people), but the economy of a just a big town. More likely than not, if I went to UA, I'd probably end up getting recruited right back here to Phoenix, where I'm living right now-- a place that I have already crossed off my list.
Last edited by vegaspilgrim; 01-24-2008 at 11:57 PM..
Reason: additional explanation
I here ya, milquetoast! You'll probably be hearing from me soon on the Las Vegas forum with some questions. One question for now though-- what percentage of the population do you think works for the casino/gaming/resort industry? AFAIK, the big companies headquartered in Las Vegas are: MGM Mirage, Harrah's Entertainment, Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts, Boyd Gaming, Station Casinos. Am I leaving anything out? Are there any significant industries outside of the biggie?
Since you're from Denver and probably want to see a little more of the world, I'd suggest San Diego.
I agree. You are still pretty young and Denver will be there if you ever want to move back. San Diego is a great city to be in as a recent college grad, particularly if you are not interested in buying a house in the next year or two (but wait a few years and the market will come down a bit).
As for a poster's comment that it has nothing going for it but nice weather, I have to disagree. I'm not a big beach person, but I can tell you that there are a lot of other great outdoor recreational opportunities beyond the beach. There is great hiking and cycling throughout San Diego county. It's not Colorado, but the mountain terrain gets up to 6000 feet, complete with pine trees and winter snow, in several places in the county. You are also close to some beautiful desert areas (Anza-Borrego state park, Joshua Tree National Park, and Death Valley National Park), and about a five hour drive to Sequoia/Kings Canyon national park and a 3-hr drive and ferry ride to Channel Islands National Park off the coast of Santa Barabara. Also, if you like Mexico (and there are some beautiful places once you get past the border towns), it is just a couple dozen miles south.
All that said, I don't think Denver and Tucson are bad choices either. I really like both cities. And while Vegas is close to some great things, I just don't like the downtown/casino scene enough to live there (no problem with the occasional visit though!).
I actually really like all four of these cities, so you can't go "wrong" with any of the four.
I most of these four go to Denver, as a huge chunk of my family lives in the metro. It is a nice city, however, would be last for me because I much prefer the other threes' weather, and, Denver metro isn't terribly cheap (although certainly neither are Vegas or SD). I am more of a "desert guy" than a "Rocky Mountain" guy, but Denver is - as you well know - pretty. Not a knock on Denver whatsoever, just would be my last choice.
First would be Tucson. It of these is the most affordable, I like the size of the metro the most (big enough to be big but small enough to be manageable), has the most flavor and character, and has the 2nd best weather (next to SD). Taxes are low and you are relatively close to Phoenix if you ever need the "huge city" amenities like Sky Harbor, big league sports, etc.
Vegas comes in behind Tucson because its summers are blistering hot (although the other seven months of the year are quite nice), it is quite a pricey area, and is becoming quite large and congested. Otherwise though, I have always thought Vegas got a tough rap and is quite nice - just prefer the Vegas of 10 years ago I guess.
San Diego is awesome, but the big drawback is the cost of living. To me, for the cost of living in SD, it isn't worth it - nowhere would be worth it to me for that cost of living. However, I have a buddy who lives there and likes it. But he's in his upper-30s and still renting a smallish apartment, which I wouldn't like. Great town, but everyone else knows that too - so that is where the BIG dollars come in.
Good luck Vegas! I think you'll be fine with any of these.
Thanks, EnjoyEP. I do like Tucson, although sometimes I wonder if it's a better town for retirees than for people in their 20's. Also, being a Sun Devil I don't really care for the Wildcat "college town" experience Tucson may offer. Sparky can roast Wilbur for breakfast any day! I guess I might say Tucson is on the list of places I would live if a great opportunity opened up, but I'm not sure if I should go out of my way to live there.
Another possibility would be to move back to Denver for a year or two, long enough to complete the master's degree program and get a bit of accounting experience (right now I have none), and then once I have a more solid foundation career-wise, consider moving to one of those other cities. Colorado is the only state where I can get in-state tuition, so I can save a LOT of money by taking advantage of that. In theory, I could move back in with the 'rents for a year, something I do NOT want to do but I could save even more money but doing that. Even if I get an apartment in Denver it would be WAY cheaper than an apartment in San Diego-- probably half the cost. As of right now, I don't have enough accounting education/skills to even make ends meet in a high cost of living place like San Diego. In about 2 years from now, I should at least be able to survive there. San Diego is the most beautiful city I have ever seen, but beyond the beach, the actual "city" stuff doesn't offer anything that you can't get in Denver. I really like downtown San Diego. I'd say it's no better than downtown Denver, truthfully, but it's much better looking, a lot more "cheerful" looking. Downtown Denver has an old red brick feel with ugly brown skyscrapers built in the '70s and '80s.
Of the four choices, Las Vegas would offer the most unique experience. I understand that locals don't really hang out on the Strip (unless if they're working there), but it would sure be nice to have that closeby so I could get to the action whenever I feel like. I've been inside many of the locals casinos-- places like the Red Rock seem like a nice place to meet local singles. As I've said before, I think it would be fun to work for one of the major casinos doing accounting work-- at least while I'm still really young. I agree that Vegas is not a very family friendly place, but getting married and having kids is about the farthest thing from my mind right now!
I actually just spent almost a month back home for winter break, so it's not like I've forgotten what the winters are like there (it snowed 4 or 5 times when I was back, daytime highs were typically in the thirties and sunny, sometimes a little windy though, some nights were around 15 degrees). I think both extreme heat and extreme cold suck (although to be fair, Denver is not even close to "extreme" cold-- there are some places in Colorado like Alamosa that gets lows of 30 below zero), but I think extreme heat is worse. The main thing about winter in Denver that I can't stand is the ugly brown slushy snowpiles that hang around for weeks at a time after a snowstorm-- at least during this time of the year (March and April snows usually melt a lot quicker). It's due to the crap they spray on the roads to prevent icing. That and sometimes the sidewalks don't get plowed, so they can get icy/slushy for weeks at a time, where it melts during the day but keeps refreezing at night. In any case though, I'm young and tough-- I can handle the cold just fine. If I do move back to Denver, I would take full advantage of the skiing. I'm considering buying skis at the end of this season when the end-of-year deals come up, so I don't have to keep renting every time I go up.
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Come on, dude! Look at all of that out there! You know what's coming online over the next few years. Why are you even imploring? 
