S just finished his midterms - As in Chemistry, Physics and his EMS class, and the other two didn’t have midterms. The grades are a hard-won victory for him since he’s spending about 20 hours a week in play rehearsals.
This weekend is fall break, a 4-day weekend, so he’s headed to Las Cruces with some friends.
Thanks for continuing to share his experience. We never made it there for my 2 oldest to consider but there will be another coming, so I’m keeping an eye on it as a possibility.
Just a quick comment–
UNM’s creative writing program is very good, esp in speculative fiction.
NM has many fabulous local SFF authors-- Stephen Donaldson* (Thomas Covenant series and Nick Axbrewder mysteries), Diana Galbaldon* (Outlander series) George R.R. Martin* (Game of Thrones), Susan Krinard*, James A Corey (The Expanse --now a TV series on SYFY and Amazon), Walter Jon Williams, (multiple Nebula award winner), Robert Vardeman (a neighbor of mine whose kid went to kindergarten & elementary school with my D), Aimee & David Thurlo (who are neighbors of my boss) and plus two or three dozen others.
There are even more romance, mystery, historical and western authors than SFF authors in the state.
*NYTimes best selling author
BTW, Eastern NM State in Portales has one of the top 3 or 4 largest collections of SFF materials in the entire US and hosts the Jack Williamson Library. It’s a phenomenal resource, esp for those interested in the history of SF.
@WayOutWestMom That’s good to know, thank you! Sometime, spec fic (or any commercial genre) is the love that dare not speak its name in English or Creative Writing programs. It’s often regarded as commercial hackery that no serious writer would dare sully their pen with.
This is one of the reasons we visited U of Oklahoma before they cut their NMF scholarship. Their commercial fiction program, housed in the School of Journalism, is possibly the best in the nation.
I’ve told S to test the waters carefully at UNM. If he finds enough people who are open to spec. fic, all the better. If not, I know a bunch of workshops he can try outside of academia, and some of them are right there in New Mexico, e.g. Taos Toolbox.
He’s already sold his first short story, and both of us will probably be at BuboniCon next year.
The Bubonicon is a small con, usually held in one of budget hotels in town–try not to have any major expectations. It’s not World Con, or even close.
UNM SOM has an arts fellowship program open to its staff physicians. There are 2 or 3 physicians who have taken it and have published novels. If your son is interested-- he should read Tengo Sed by James Fleming. He’s a UNM EM doc and the characters in the novel are very clearly based on real people. The Southern, red-haired, foul mouthed trauma surgeon of the novel will be instantly recognizable if your S spends any amount of time in the ED.
WARING: the novel is not a happy one. It’s the story of a young doctor (Hovercraft) who is failing out his residency program.
I like smaller cons. I find them to be friendlier and more welcoming that the big ones.
I’m pretty sure I bought Tengo Sed a year or two ago, so I’ll see if it’s on S’s shelf.
S’s first semester is winding down, and it’s been wonderful for him. He had a lead role in a play, his grades are good, and he’s registered for some great classes next semester.
Now that he has a sense of what his workload will be like, he’s looking into employment opportunities. He has several to choose from, including an offer to TA for his Chem prof, a class he can take to TA the EMT lab for EMT-Basic students, and casual on-call EMT work with Med Bow.
Then there’s this - he’s just received a casting call from Netflix. A month or so ago, I posted a thread here about Netflix buying ABQ studios, and I speculated that this would be good for UNM’s film students. Looks like it’s going to be good for actors and drama students, too. The call says that Netflix needs more young actors than local casting agencies can supply, so they’ve reached out to UNM’s drama students.
Working as an extra in local productions is already a thing, but now it looks like it will be more of a thing. 
Thanks for your updates, @DiotimaDM ! My D will be at WVU next fall but I still have a soft spot in my heart for UNM and I also have another kid a few years out, so I’ll be checking in every now and then! Glad your son is doing so well, and that’s awesome news about Netflix!
DS finished his semester with a 4.05 GPA while taking 18 units and three lab sciences. This gives him a 3.96 for the year. I am a proud mama.
He came home for a week, then headed back to ABQ to take the first semester of organic chemistry over the summer. It’s not covered by his scholarship, but it was the only way to get him all the way through biochemistry before his paramedic year, both of which impact his timing for the MCAT.
He’s moved into an on-campus apartment for the summer, and he’ll stay in the same unit once fall starts. 6 beds, 2 baths, small living room & kitchen, and an interior storage room big enough for bikes.
He’s still 110% in love with UNM, Albuquerque and his EMS major. We are delighted to see him so happy.
When is the best time for an initial visit? I was accepted into the engineering school class of 2024, but I haven’t scheduled a campus tour or any such thing. Also, where in the myUNM portal can I find Honors applications and anything else useful? I’m the oldest of my siblings and my parents aren’t familiar with modern college applications and the like, so I am trying to feel it out on my own and I’ve been thrown for a loop.
Thank you so much for regularly updating this topic, by the way! It’s been very helpful!
@AllegedlyFrench
Classes start on August 19 so campus is going to super busy for the next 3 weeks. I would wait at least a month until everyone has settled into their classes & dorms.
Here are some other dates to avoid–
NM State Fair Sept 5-15
Balloon Fiesta Oct 5-13
The influx of people for both events drive the price of transportation and lodging up. Hotel rooms during Fiesta get booked months in advance. Restaurants are all crowded.
Personally, I’d recommend October any time after Balloon Fiesta. The weather is usually gorgeous.
@WayOutWestMom
Thank you! Y’all are very much appreciated
Sorry I didn’t see this!
WayOutWestMom is right about dates for visiting. We visited once over high school spring break, and then again during the second week of November.
Here’s the page to schedule tours: http://admissions.unm.edu/visit-us/student-family-tours.html
If you want to do a housing tour or meet with individual professors, you’ll need to make separate arrangements. Here’s the link for housing: http://housing.unm.edu/about/tour.html
For professors, you’ll need to find the page for the department in question, then contact the department’s main office.
Here’s the page for the Honors College: https://honors.unm.edu/
Happy touring!
I ended up visiting last week (Because it just worked out that there was no other good time until spring). I loved it! Such a pretty campus, and great opportunities in Electrical Engineering. I also received my Semifinalist notification, so I’ve been filling out that app and had a question. I’m reading on the information that NMSC only sends one scholarship offer to each finalist. Since I am putting UNM as my first choice, will they prioritize that award over other ones I might receive, and is it even sent through NMSC or by the University itself? I am mostly concerned because my dad’s employer also offers scholarships to NMFs who are children of their employees. If that were going to be a problem, how could I circumvent it?
I’m sorry if this seems like a silly question, senior year just leaves you that way sometimes!
The scholarship from the employer shouldn’t be a problem.
For my son’s award, $250 out of the total is a separate line item that says it comes from NMSC. The rest comes from the school.
Yours will have a different line item corresponding to the employer scholarship. The rest will come from the school, and the total award won’t change.
I am reasonably certain of this, but please verify it by asking in the forum dedicated to National Merit scholarships. Someone who has one of the employer-based ones will answer.
Glad you liked UNM!
Checking in to say that S is still very happy with everything at UNM. He’s living in the SRC apartments, and has re-upped for next year.
Since the apartments have full kitchens, he doesn’t have a meal plan of any sort. He and his roomies shop at Sprouts, Target and Costco, mostly, and cooking the vast majority of his meals helps keep his food costs down.
He’s still 100% committed to his BS in EMS, and he just submitted his paramedic academy application. He’s also still planning on med school. As a freshman, he’d been going back and forth between MD and PA, but he’s settled on MD, now.
His second semester of OCHEM was ridiculously difficult. Out of around 120 students initially enrolled, only 10% took the final exam, and of those, roughly half were at risk of not passing. Of those with an assured pass (including S), the large majority had taken the class before.
I’m told that this level of weeding is highly unusual at UNM, and that S’s professor was Emeritus and doesn’t usually teach (the pre-med advisor expressed significant surprise that this professor was still teaching).
He did not get an A, but he’s taking it as a badge of honor that he had a guaranteed pass his first time through. Only one other first-timer passed.
He has a relatively easy semester this term, only 15 units, of which two units are a PE class (ju-jitsu), which he loves.
He’s planning on staying through the summer again. His scholarship doesn’t cover summer, but he saves enough out of the cash portion of his scholarship to pay for half of summer, and we’re happy to pay the other half.
By the end of this semester, he’ll have completed all of the coursework for his pre-med requirements, a Designation in Honors, and a minor in Chemistry. He has enough room in his schedule to do a second minor in either Honors or Population Health, so he’ll be making that decision soon.
Yikes! My daughter will take O Chem next year if she attends as she has a 5 in AP Chem.
I love hearing about your son at UNM. We are flying out to visit next month and I’m super excited!!
Love the update! Sounds like Your son is souring!!! @DiotimaDM
Re: OCHEM2 - Read the reviews on RateMyProfessor. If the class is listed as TBA for the prof, take a different section.
This professor doesn’t give plusses or minuses, and she doesn’t round, so if you have a 79.6% and you’re in the top 10 for the class, you get a C.
S took OCHEM1 over the summer with a different prof and got an A+, just for comparison.