Can you add UNM to the http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ page?
I am sharing that page with D’s friend who is a medium stat student that can’t attend college without a scholarship and is scared to venture to far from home. UNM is the closest. She and her parents don’t read CC.
UNM is not listed because they do not have scholarships that meet the criteria for that page.
@lonetreegrad Have you and D visited UNM yet? If so, I would love to know your impression. S16 has several of the schools in that part of the country on his radar due to the awesome NM scholarships, but he is trying to narrow it down. It is hard to do that just relying on the internet!
A local girl just visited ASU and UNM in the past 2-3 weeks…not because of National Merit, but because she is being recruited for swimming. Both trips I think she went without parents, so I can’t get their perspective. I did talk to her briefly, and her comments were that ASU had a prettier campus, but she felt that she fit in with the student body better at UNM. It was only a very brief conversation.
@4kids2graduate No, we have not yet. We were planning to visit them next week during the Fall break, but the person who was supposed to take care of our cat during our trip will be out of town for 2 weeks, so we have to wait and see what happens. UNM is only 6 hours away, so we can easily do a 3-day weekend trip soon. Their application was very easy to do. It took less than 20 minutes to finish it.
D also received another acceptance letter yesterday from UNL. It took less than 24 hours to get an email from them. She submitted the app after school and got an email the next morning. That one is tuition+ for NMFs, but she can apply to other scholarships that covers the rest. She is also doing the IB program and they are very generous with kids with an IB diploma.
@lonetreegrad Please share a visit report after seeing UNM. Also, which school is UNL? Another question…do you have any insight into Colorado School of Mines since you are from Colorado? S16 (the ultimate science/math nerd) has recently started considering them.
@4kids2graduate Sure, will do. UNL is University of Nebraska, Lincoln. It is also about 6 hours away from our house. We visited Mines last year. I took both DDs (DD16 and DD18) with me for a campus tour. Mines is mainly an engineering school, so D16 decided not to apply there. She is undecided but is leaning towards premed with a minor in creative writing. D18 hated the school. I guess it is too nerdy for her!! They both liked CU Boulder. A beautiful campus.
Just wanted to add, both girls loved Colorado College, but didn’t like the Block scheduling.
I find it so odd that some states have multiple colleges that offer great NM scholarships, and other states that do not offer anything at any of their schools. It is too bad that Colorado does not have any NM scholarship options. Not much in our Pacific Northwest area either, only one Washington school has any NM scholarship (full tuition), and one Idaho school (full ride). Nothing in Oregon. That is why we are looking in other parts of the country ie: plains/south/southwest area and southeastern US.
Btw, S11 was seriously considering Cornell College in Iowa a few years ago due to their “one course at a time” curriculum (I think that is the same as block scheduling or similar?)…he really liked that idea! It was his second choice, so he did not end up attending there.
Yes, no NM scholarships in Colorado. Actually, none of the colleges in CO are very generous towards instate students. We also don’t have prepaid programs like in other states (eg, I think FL). I think it costs about $28K for instate students to go to CU Boulder. Kids with an ACT 33 or higher can get about $5K automatic scholarship. That’s all. Other scholarships are extremely competitive. So, for D16 to go to CU Boulder it will cost us about $23K/year. That is a lot of money when she can go to UNL or UNM for free (or almost free). She will be applying to CU Boulder too, but we have to see if she can get any of the scholarships she is applying now.
Yes, that sounds like a block scheduling. One class for 3 weeks and then another one. Can you imagine taking an organic chemistry class for 3 weeks? I think that would be crazy. What if you get the flu and are out for a whole week, that means you will miss 1/3 of the semester!! D16 didn’t like it at all.
When looking at online rankings, keep in mind that New Mexico gives a lottery scholarship to NM high school graduates with at least a 2.5 high school GPA. This scholarship pays approximately 95% of tuition. Therefore, many kids attempt college that might not otherwise go or aren’t suited for it. Then they drop out. This causes the graduation rate to be lower than it would be if the lottery scholarship didn’t exist, and has an impact on the school’s ranking which gives it somewhat of a bum rap.
How are the UNM Regents and Amigo scholarships different from other automatic full tuition scholarships?
http://scholarship.unm.edu/scholarships/non-resident.html
@lonetreegrad
What does UNL do for IB grads?
@4kids2graduate
Mines is nerdy, but their graduates come out with very high paying jobs. They have a few full ride scholarships, I know someone who got one. It is pretty selective and there is more males than females.
UNM Regents’ is not automatically awarded.
@lonetreegrad The block scheduling was very appealing to my ADHD son who had many struggles in high school with keeping multiple courses/assignments straight, managing logistics, etc…even though he was brilliant and the actual academic learning was no issue for him.
One of the positives about block scheduling is the flexibility…the professor only teaches one course at a time as well. That makes the professor very accessible, and allows them to be more creative in how they structure their course. So if the biology professor wants to take the students to costa rica to do research in the rainforest for a week…they can! If they wanted to go to Chicago to the art museums for a couple days, they could! There were several examples of field trips, unique extra experiences etc. that demonstrated some advantages to the block system.
The other thing about the block system - there were 9 blocks per year, and students were required to do 8. It built in an extra 4 week break for students during the year, perhaps to make up a class (due to a major illness) or possibly to do a short practicum, internship, work, or just to go see family!
@nw2this Thanks for the comment on Mines!
@nw2this The Regent’s scholarship is competitive with only approximately 20 awards per school year, but not impossible to get. It requires a separate application where the other scholarships don’t. My D’s good friend who is an in-state freshman received one. She had over a 4.0 GPA and a 31 ACT. My D attends UNM and loves it there!
@nw2this “What does UNL do for IB grads?”
Based on our discussion with the UNL rep at a college fair and the information on their site (see the link below), we felt that there are very good options for a student with an IB diploma. D16 is also a NMSF (hopefully a finalist), so that made UNL a good choice for her. In addition, it is only about 6 hours from our house. Like I mentioned before, she will be applying to a few selective schools as well. Schools like UNL, UNM, and a couple of more are her safety schools.
http://global.unl.edu/academics/honors-programs/international-baccalaureate.aspx
@4kids2graduate Colorado College definitely would have been a great choice for your son. They do offer a lot of interesting things. Our tour made the kids very excited about their college experience. They covered a lot of things that you mentioned on your post, but it still made D16 worried about the short periods that she has to study for each class. She takes 5 IB and 2 AP classes right now and can manage all easily. It is the other things (eg, leaderships, clubs, sports) that keeps her overwhelmed.
@BobWallace Yes, UNM Regents is not automatically awarded. In a letter from UNM, it was mentioned that NMSFs that don’t become NMF can apply to the Regents scholarship by Dec 1st. We are pretty sure that D will become a NMF (eg, high SAT, no Cs, a good essay, and hopefully a good recommendation), but because of the deadline she tried to apply to the Regents scholarship anyway (just in case). That scholarship form is very long and has several short questions/essays to write. It is not easy to complete. She decided to wait on that.
@lonetreegrad
The UNL IB 50K scholarship sounds really good as does the free room and board for business school students. I had no idea there were IB scholarships! Off to do some more research.
@BobWallace
Sorry I got confused because post #49 said UNM’s scholarships were automatic. I guess that only applied to the National scholars.
@nw2this I am not sure that the National Scholars at UNM is automatic according to folks on this site. The website states “Academic criteria for consideration” which may mean that it is a minimum criteria, but not automatic for the scholarship.
I initially took it as automatic for NMF, but since it has been clarified here - I no longer look at it that way. Has anyone actually had a conversation with the admissions/financial aid folks at UNM to get their perspective on this?
@4kids2graduate Here is what D16 received after her acceptance. I assumed this was automatic scholarship, but I think it might not be.
“Should you be named as a finalist, you will be eligible to receive a full scholarship (tuition, fees, room & board - renewable for up to four years) plus an Apple IPad. This scholarship is valued at more than $100,000 over a four year period. To become eligible for this program, submit a completed application for admission and submit required documents (official transcripts and ACT/SAT) by February 1, 2016. Also, you must list the University of New Mexico as your first choice with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.”
I guess the key word is ELIGIBLE and not automatic. I assumed if you make it as a finalist and name UNM as your first choice, then you would get the full scholarship. I can call them tomorrow to clarify.
I checked University of Central Florida as well, which is also on the list for automatic full ride and found the following on their website.
“Once you are named as a National Merit semifinalist, you will be considered for a scholarship upon admission to UCF. If you are a Florida resident, this is in addition to the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship.
If you advance to finalist status, and you designate UCF as you first choice by the deadline, you will receive an increased scholarship amount.”
This one also states that the student will be CONSIDERED, so is this not automatic as well? This is getting too confusing!!
As I said in an earlier post, many of the colleges use vague or weak wording (apparently they have lawyers), but all indications from personal experiences shared here on CC indicate that the UNM awards are automatic. UCF is also automatic.
@4kids2graduate As for the UNM Regents scholarship, once minimum criteria is met, the playing field is again even and it pretty much comes down to the essays for selection. At least that’s what a person in the scholarship office told a friend of mine. The other lower scholarships are automatic. The NMF scholarship at UNM is basically automatic assuming the applicant doesn’t have any huge discrepancies. The university can’t say it’s automatic, but it’s safe to say it would be automatic, just like @BobWallace stated. UNM is very hungry for freshmen with high stats and gives away lots of money on students with lower stats than a NMF. They bend over backwards to get NMF to attend UNM.