NMT for biology?

I’ve been interested in earning a biology degree and I was looking at nmt. NMT seems good for engineering and STEM fields in general but I’m not sure if it’s a good school for biology or not. Would it be better to go to UNM for a biology degree compared to NMT?

Which one is cheaper? I don’t think either one is significantly better than the other overall, though I don’t know anything about biology degrees.

Short answer: it depends.

Long answer:

  1. Which university is more cost effective for you & your family’s budget? NMT tuition & fees for 1 semester are ~$3500. UNM in-state tuition for 1 semester is $2643, but that doesn’t include additional mandatory fees and I can’t tell from their website what those amount to. This does not include room & board, books & supplies.
  1. NMT is in a much smaller town than UNM. Either of those can have pro's and con's depending on how you look at it.
  2. You could read the NMT Biology department's own words on this. Go to http://infohost.nmt.edu/~biology/undergraduate.html.
  3. NMT seems to have a strong campus culture across all of its departments in which professors hire undergrads as research assistants & help them find good internships & help them get additional research opportunities before graduation.
  4. This website contains a sample 4 year graduation plan for a biology major at NMT. http://infohost.nmt.edu/~biology/Advising.html
  5. Both universities have some really good merit scholarship options if you have the grades & test scores to qualify. That can make the cost of attending much more affordable. NMT will stack scholarships.
  6. UNM's biology department is much larger - 35 full time faculty compared to a much smaller department at NMT. According to https://biology.unm.edu/department-overview.shtml, they have ~1300 students majoring in biology and over 100 grad students. There are pluses and minuses to this. For example, it will give you a lot more options in doing research with a professor with a whole host of research topics (if that is something that you're interested in). Go to https://biology.unm.edu/faculty-researcharea.shtml, for example. However, you'll have to compete with a LOT more other biology majors in order to get a slot with a professor for an internship or research opportunity, whereas that sort of thing will be a lot easier to come by at NMT.
  7. If you go to https://biology.unm.edu/undergrad/undergrad-guide.shtml, there is a good description of undergrad programs in Biology at UNM.

Duh, the info was right there at http://bursar.unm.edu/tuition-info/tuition-and-fee-rates.html! UNM “mandatory fees” for Fall 2016 is $832.20 for in state students.

As for affordability, both UNM and NMT would be equally as affordable. I could probably go to either for free based on merit and lottery scholarships. The smaller class sizes seem appealing about NMT but I think I prefer the larger research areas and opportunities of UNM. Looking at their websites, UNM seems to have many more classes for biology and also offers PhD degrees. I’ll probably go out of state for a grad degree but that seems like an indicator that UNM puts more effort into their program.
If anyone has experience taking biology courses at NMT, I would love your input about their program.

I would highly recommend touring both campuses if you can. And contact the Biology department at both schools prior to your visits to see if you can sit in on a lecture. Of course, this would require you to visit the school on a day that class is in session.