So i'm going to be a junior in high school next year, and i'm being told by everyone to start looking at colleges. I'd really love to major in some type of architecture, specifically urban or landscape, and maybe urban planning. I'm already going up to visit Penn State soon (my brother went there, not for architecture though), but that's pretty much the only school i know that has a good architecture program. Any advice?

Texas !&M, Texas tech, OU, and Cal Poly would be a good start, dont know to much on northern schools though

Any of the Ivy League schools.

It also makes a huge difference whether you want landscape architecture, architecture, or planning. I'd advise you to steer clear of planning... if "urban design" is what your after, architecture is what you want; planing is much more policy based, and in my opinion (as an architect and someone who likes to design) extremely boring.

Penn St. is good for landscape, not so much with architecture.

I went to University of Cincinnati. It has the co-op program so during your 6 years of school (4 years BA 2 years Masters) you actually get 2.5 years of work experience. It definitely gets you a lot of respect upon graduation. Firms know you can step into the office and fit right in within a week, whereas even ivy league grads take a few months to make the classroom to workplace adjustment.

Wherever you decide to go, all I suggest is make sure they have an excellent co-op/internship program. The things you learn in the classroom make so much more sense when you get to make use of it in the field a few weeks after learning it.

I went to University of Cincinnati. It has the co-op program so during your 6 years of school (4 years BA 2 years Masters) you actually get 2.5 years of work experience. It definitely gets you a lot of respect upon graduation. Firms know you can step into the office and fit right in within a week, whereas even ivy league grads take a few months to make the classroom to workplace adjustment.

Would an internship cost some exorbitant amount of money, or does that just vary between colleges?

Internships? I get paid on mine, and paid pretty well for being a college student. There's no tuition during the internship semesters, so I save up what I make and use it for living expenses year round.

I joined this board just to respond to this post
If you're looking into architecture AND urban planning, you should really talk to a planner about what exactly it is (unless you know and you've already set your mind)
Even THE PLANNERS THEMSELVES realize they have a boring rubber stamp job. I have to listen to Curious_George complain all the time ;) You should drop him a line, he'd be more than happy to help you out and could probably point you towards a school planning wise. Architecture wise you may need help from somebody else. I'm also looking into architecture so if you find anything let me know!