Hi there,
If you’re interested in attending UNM, or would like to know if UNM is right for you, please feel free to ask me anything. I’ve been around the campus for years, and as a result, I have a pretty solid foundation of the university.
@wondervigilante I’m trying to understand the scholarships. I think my daughter might be interested in looking into UNM and she has high stats (above 3.9 and 32 ACT). Do you know if that means she will automatically be offered a large scholarship, or that she will be considered?
Hi @mi5kids,
First off, congratulations to your daughter. Those are some impressive stats!
Because UNM is a large public university, university-wide scholarships are awarded completely based on merit cut-offs. In other words, as long as an applicant has the credentials for a scholarship, they will automatically receive it.
Here’s a link to UNM’s page on scholarships: https://scholarship.unm.edu/
Based on your previous posts, it looks like you and your daughter are out of state (OOS). Your daughter has the stats for the Amigo Scholarship, which, at $15,337 per year, would cover three quarters of the OOS tuition; this scholarship has no separate application, so no matter what, she would receive it.
She also has the stats for the most prestigious scholarship offered by UNM, the Regents scholarship. It’s valued at $17,803 per year, and its value is added to the Amigo Scholarship, making the whole scholarship worth $33,140 per year; this would cover about $3,000 less than the complete cost of attendance for an OOS student. However, the Regents scholarship does require a separate application, and it involves multiple essays and a short video.
If your daughter is/will be a National Merit Finalist or National Achievement Scholar, she will receive a scholarship equivalent to the Regents + the Amigo, in addition to an iPad, without having to complete an application.
The Regents scholarship has one condition to it: its recipients must live in a certain residence hall during their first year. It’s very old and traditional (communal bathrooms) but I have friends living there and they love it; it’s full of hard-working, intelligent students like your daughter. I actually chose not to apply for the Regents scholarship because of this–UNM has much nicer dorms (look at Casas del Rio) and I felt like I’d be happier living there.
My advice to you is: if she’s comfortable living in older dorms for at least her first year, encourage your daughter to apply for the Regent’s scholarship.
I hope this was helpful to you. Let me know if you have any more questions!
Thank you. This clears things up for me. I don’t think she will be a NM semifinalist, new PSAT last fall threw her off.
@mi5kids Is there any specific reason your daughter is looking into UNM? A certain program? I she looking to study in a different region of the country?
She is interested in attending a university with high diversity, so I began a search and UNM was among those I found. And from all I’ve heard New Mexico is so different from everywhere else.
@wondervigilante forgot to tag you.
Hello,
I was wondering about how an out of stater would feel going to UNM considering its high attendence of in state students. Im from Massachusetts so I wont know anyone, do a lot of undergrads already know lots of people and thus exclude out of state kids?
Thanks
@jeffvt97 Hi there! So sorry for the late response, I’ve been really busy with college!
If you choose to go to an out-of-state school, typically it will be harder to make friends since the in-state kids already know some people. However, UNM is large enough so that everyone will be looking to meet new people, and also it will be easier for you to become friends with other out of state students.
I think what’s more important is how you feel about UNM, coming from Massachusetts. Have you visited Albuquerque or the Southwest US?
Hi, I would like to know when a decision would be made on my application. It was sent Oct 28. Thanks.
Just wanted to mention that we received the Amigo Scholarship 2 days back, covering out of state tuition.