STAY AWAY FROM DEMING...it's a nice enough place and all, but it's very sterile, and very freshman-dorm like. plus, it's RIGHT across the street from the med school...you're definitely going to want to live uptown (or if you choose, the suburbs) so you can at least get away from the school environment.
as for finding places, it's not hard at all to find a decent apt here in new orleans. like any city, there are some spots that are great, and some that you want to avoid like the plague..the only problem is, they tend to intermingle (i.e. one block of a certain street is really nice, but go a few blocks down on the same street, and you're in the middle of the ghetto), so i'd totally recommend coming down here and seeing places for yourself. finding a sublet shouldn't be that difficult..i'd recommend going to
www.bestofneworleans.com or
www.nolalive.com and searching the classifieds, within the uptown/university area. once you're down here, i'd suggest continuing to look in the ads, and also contacting latter and blum (
www.latterandblum.com). they're really good about finding you a place that meets your specifications. if you guys have any questions, feel free to pm me.