Best place to study Mandarin in January?

Hello! I'm trying to study Mandarin in China in an intensive program this January to test into my college's Chinese 102 class. I've been doing a ton of research and have found a few schools I like, but I haven't been able to find many reviews from people who have taken classes with them.

The schools I'm looking at right now are:

Omeida in Yangshuo

LTL Beijing

LTL Taipei

Keats Institute in Kunming (for some reason this one feels shady to me, change my mind?)

Mandarin Training Center in Taipei

Hutong Schools in Beijing, Shanghai, or Hangzhou

Harbin (???? maybe???? it's super cold but those ice sculptures look so pretty,,,,but it's also freezing)

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My main concerns right now are air quality and weather, since I'm going to be there in January. I know that Beijng and Shanghai have really bad air quality during the winter and are super cold. The cost of living is also higher. In addition, the LTL programs are way more expensive than Omeida and Keats, but would they have better learning environments? I've heard that Yangshuo is beautiful but kind of touristy, which is something else to consider.

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Also, Taiwanese culture really interests me, but I'm not sure if Taipei is the best place to first start learning Mandarin because of dialect differences.

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Omeida is my top choice right now because it seems like the friendliest and least corporate program, is the cheapest I've come across, and Yangshuo looks so beautiful. However, as I said, it may not be the best learning environment.

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Does anyone have any experience with any of these programs? Is there one that you've done that I haven't listed that you would recommend? Are there any that I absolutely SHOULD NOT do?? What's your experience studying Mandarin in a private school been in general?

~~I'm planning on studying in China for a little more than three weeks (my professor recommended 20 days of intensive classes), but will begrudgingly bump up to four if someone says otherwise.

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Thank you!!!

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