Well, you will need
lots of practice before you can make it more than a hobby, and in order to get noticed by colleges you will need a good portfolio, which doesn't get made over night
I have a sticky at the top made to beginners DSLR Cameras. I would recommend at least a D60 for Nikon, Or the Rebel XSi.
If you have a bigger budget then the new Nikon D500, or the Canon T1i (which are both the same as the D60/XSi, just with more advanced features and even HD Video.)
Read lots of books, tutorials, tips, tricks etc. And PRACTICE!! If there is one thing I've learned about using a Digital camera, is that it makes learning EASY!! You just need to practice. And the advantage to being digital is, that you can
review the shots on the LCD on the back, and if they didn't turn out, practice it again until you get it right! It's all about the practice!
Ps: The pixel count won't make a camera be good or suck, it just means the more pixels then bigger you can print your images without having distorted pixels.
Hope this helps, if you have any questions, keep askin! We're here to help
