Well i'm only in high school, so there's not a lot of "personal experiences" i can give you but both of my parents are on the faculty at Arizona State University and they love it there. I think they've been working there for 20-30 years. I like the schools here (lower, middle, upper), but i don't think that will be much help for you lol.

If you want any information about the schools here, my parents are very familiar with most of them and i'm sure i could ask them any questions that you may have. Let me know.
Arizona is a beautiful place though, there's no where else like it.