@Volatyl your online intel is limited and not accurate. 
My daughter has a high GPA/SAT/ACT and is most likely going.
@Volatyl We are not going to kill you but that is downright silly to rule out New Mexico based on goodness knows what. You have people here who live in the area and actually have gone to the schools. It is all in your head that California is some paradise and New Mexico is not up to snuff. It would be a blessing for your family for you to have an affordable option and on the path to med school. Put an application in and take time to talk with people who actually know the place. It’s simple to put in an application.
Look at all these five star review UNM
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60933-d144326-Reviews-University_of_New_Mexico-Albuquerque_New_Mexico.html
UNM has a very good Honors College with great benefits for National Merit Scholars so it’s popular with high stats kids. The campus looks very nice.
Do you have a FISKE GUIDE? That’s where you’d find good intel.
Princeton Review’s Best colleges also works.
(You could order it online too, or borrow it from the local library).
Check out the UNM board here on this site, there is a great thread on scholarships.
We have 4 kids and can’t fund college completely. The idea that my daughter will be graduating with minimal debt to begin her life is amazing.
Right…put in the application to New Mexico…you will have until April 30 to decide whether to attend if accepted. But at least you will know and have that option.
That link I posted…many of those schools are no longer accepting applications for fall 2018.
But UNM IS. What harm is there in taking ten minutes to submit your application…then going in to amend your FAFSA to submit there?
It’s another OPTION…and perhaps an affordable one. Do you really want to leave that on the table?
Its a super easy application.
I live 20 minutes from Irvine. It was in the low 40s overnight. It does not have the same weather as PR. Orange County has some of the most expensive housing in the country and there’s an extreme shortage of anything that’s affordable. California is losing residents to other states because it’s so hard to live comfortably here, even for middle-class families.
At IVC, the cost of attendance is $25,391 for an out-of-state student. And no, you won’t magically become a California resident by attending community college. This is simply not doable. (And please don’t ignore the advice regarding the intense competition for pre-med in California. Many students won’t survive the weeding out process, including students who have much higher stats than yours.)
I know it’s difficult to accept a dream can’t become reality, but it’s way better than getting yourself over your head in a situation where you’ll be forced to drop out because you can’t afford it.
Fine. You guys have convinced me. I will apply to New Mexico. However, does anyone know the ethnic population in the school? I want to know how many are Hispanic, Asian, White and Black. I think it’s important for me to know that so I can get an idea if I’ll fit in or not. And… is New Mexico liberal? Thank you.
@MYOS1634, OP has a sister in FL. What do you know about their colleges? Their [url = <a href=“http://www.collegecalc.org/lists/florida/most-affordable-out-of-state-tuition/%5DOOS”>http://www.collegecalc.org/lists/florida/most-affordable-out-of-state-tuition/]OOS tuition seems pretty affordable.
@Volatyl it is about 50% hispanic. It was listed as one of the top serving hispanic universities in the nation. It is a “blue” state so it is more like Cali than Arizona and Texas politically.
Interesting enough, I know two CRNAs (not medical school or undergraduate program) who went to Nurse Anesthesia school in Puerto Rico because a) it was a lot less costly than US mainland schools, and B) much “easier” to gain acceptance. Both of them have completed the NA program and back in the US, working as CRNAs after passing the boards on their first attempt. This is of course the reverse of what you want to do, but you should first consider what options are available in PR, given your financial situations.
The Florida option might be enticing, especially if it is possible to repeat your senior year at a Florida high school. Who knows, you might be one of the lucky ones who are offered scholarships to one of the Florida Public 4/2-year colleges:
https://today.ucf.edu/ucf-valencia-surprise-2-students-scholarships-displaced-hurricane-maria/
As you know, to be latino or hispanic is not monolithic, so these numbers are aggregates.
UNM has highest number of Hispanic faculty members in the country: http://www.dailylobo.com/article/2016/09/15-unm-faculty-diversity
UNM ranked as #16 best school for hispanics: http://www.bestcolleges.com/features/top-50-colleges-for-hispanic-students/
UNM is recognized as a Hispanic Serving Institution: https://news.unm.edu/news/national-hispanic-serving-institutions-recognized-sept-12-18
New Mexico’s voting history: https://www.270towin.com/states/New_Mexico
If Plan A is not affordable, you look at Plan B.
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CA was never affordable, even if you would move there with your family (how would they pay the high rent?) and wait to become a resident first, it would cost too much. And you don’t want to take a gap year. And CA is super competitive for med school.
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you could live with your brother or sister in NV or FL. Both should be more affordable than CA but if you don’t want to take a gap year, you would have to pay OOS costs for community college and might not get merit to transfer to a 4 yr school.
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Texas is not realistic because there probably won’t be merit available at this late date.
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UNM gives you really good merit for your stats, even at this late time, it would be affordable for you and you could do premed there and most likely attend med school there too.
Do you realize that not very many schools will give that much money for your stats in March of their senior year?
Be thankful you could have an affordable plan B with UNM, and the climate is warm there too.
As far as the FAFSA is concerned, if your parents are married, you need to put both their incomes on the FAFSA, even if they file taxes separately.
If they are divorced or separated, then only the income of the parent you lived with more in the year before you file FAFSA, is included.
It is classified as a high research activity institution by the Carnegie Classification: http://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/lookup/lookup.php
Its a Research 1 University: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_research_universities_in_the_United_States#Universities_classified_as_“R1:Doctoral_Universities%E2%80%93_Highest_Research_Activity”
@Volatyl I wish you luck… you sound like a nice kid.
University of New Mexico
47.2% Hispanic
35.9% White
5.8% American Indian (That is high for a uni)
3.5% Asian
2.5% Black
3.5% Multi race
That is rather diverse. @Volatyl
I vehemently disagree with this statement:
The result that a 16 year old kid gets on one standardized test in no way dooms her future prospects. We have no idea what led to that result. Puerto Rico is in chaos. I’m sure these were not ideal circumstances to take a test. We have no idea what kind of preparation she had. So many of the kids here who get stellar scores have access to classes and tutoring. This is a person who was able to achieve a 4.0 GPA. It is beyond unfair to state that she does not have the capacity to do well on the MCATS years from now. So much can change between now and then. People mature, people have access to better guidance, better preparation. The average age of matriculation to med school, I believe is 24. This OP has her whole future ahead of her. Nothing that she has already done diminishes that in any way.
Note the comments on not welcoming or limited social life all pre-date the new requirement to live on campus. Now students must live on campus at UNM: https://housing.unm.edu/living-on-campus/freshman-residency-requirement.html This is new.