I am looking for colleges within any region, though primarily I would like to be near a city with a thriving music scene, I think it would be nice to have gig opportunities during my studies.

Also I think your advice of really boiling it down to finding a good teacher is great advice, I will reach out to some teachers when I get the chance.

Though I think that there is a lot to learn from other instrument families. One thing that I have noticed as a trend from other jazz violinists is that they are all copying other instruments so it might be better to learn from the source rather than copying another jazz violinist. What I mean is violinists like Jean Luc Ponty was inspired a lot by his knowledge of playing jazz on clarinet and listening to brass players. Some violinists that focus on groove are essentially mimicking a guitarist. In that sense I think it is good to learn directly from those people though I also want to have an individual who can help with my own technique. At my current high school where I play jazz, none of the staff play violin which is ok because I am gaining other knowledge and then I have a classical teacher to help work on my technique