<p>DD will be a freshman at UNM in fall '15. She will be graduating from a local ABQ high school, has already been offered a Woodrow Scholarship, and is waiting to see if she'll get a presidential scholarship. She is going to live on campus for sure for the first year to get the full college experience.</p>
<p>We went on a campus housing tour recently. Here is the rundown of the results:</p>
<p>1) DD qualifies to live in the Honor's Wing at Hokona Hall, but she doesn't care for the older dorm. However, I think being on a floor with studious students would be a benefit. </p>
<p>2) DD loved the SRC and RV apartments, but I've been told that mostly upperclassmen live in the apartments and not to apply as a single because DD would end up with older students and would have a harder time integrating into the campus life as a freshman.</p>
<p>3) That pretty much leaves Casa del Rio as the dorm of choice, which DD also liked. </p>
<p>Is Casas del Rio a party place, or is there a mix of serious students? DD aspires to go on to med school after getting her undergrad degree, so rooming with others who are up late or party a lot could hinder DD's studies. I can't find any good reviews of Casas online because it's still fairly new, so I thought I'd check here.</p>
<p>I haven’t heard anything specific about Casas, though. It might be a less rowdy place, but it just also might be because it hasn’t been around long enough to get a reputation.</p>
<p>(My kiddo is in med school and lives in rental house off campus so she’s totally out of the loop about what’s going on with the dorms. She lived in a single in Hokona or maybe Coronado–I can’t remember now–when she was an undergrad before moving off campus.)</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, wayOutwestMom. Since Casas is on campus it should be a safer bet than Lobo Village which is off-campus. It looks really nice and the rooms are larger than the older dorms. I’ve talked with a couple of friends who have kids at Casas since sending my OP, and aside from sketchy wi-fi, they are happy with the dorm.
When will your DD be finished with med school?</p>
<p>She’s a 3rd year and will graduate May 2015. </p>
<p>My younger D is waiting to hear if the SOM has accepted her for next year. (She has already been accepted to a few other schools so she’ll be a doctor regardless of UNM’s decision. But I would dearly like to have her back home for med school.)</p>
<p>Thank you. I am extremely proud of both my daughters, their accomplishments and their generosity of spirit. But I have mixed feeling about medicine. It will require sacrifices and choices I wish they didn’t have to make.</p>
<p>hi, my niece is no longer attending unm but she has a lease with casas del rio until may 2014. if your daughter would like to take over until may 2014 to see if she likes it before signing a year lease, please email me. January rent has been paid already.</p>
<p>WayOutWestMom, I can’t send you a PM yet because I don’t have enough posts, but I’m interested in your “mixed feelings” about medicine. I will work on getting my posts up to 15. Can you send me a PM? </p>
<p>Nieto505, thanks for the offer, but my daughter is still in high school and won’t be starting college until next August. Good luck though finding someone to take over the lease!</p>
<p>Casas is actually very quiet, depending upon which building you live in. The main building (Building 2) is known to house a lot of athletes and can be very rowdy at times. When you apply for Casas you’re able to request a certain building, however. The built in study rooms are also really nice because there’s almost always one available for a quiet space to study. From what I’ve heard about the Scholars’ Wing, it’s hard to make friends because a lot of the residents are the very introverted/studious type (not all of them of course, that’s just its reputation).</p>
<p>I would advise against the SRCs/Redondo for freshman year because most of the residents are older. I know a few freshmen who live there and they like it a lot, but they knew each other before they moved in and roomed together.
Casas also has an online matching service (I think it was RoomSync?) so through Facebook you can choose your roommate (even someone you’ve never met before). I liked that because you can message a potential roommate and find out if you’re a good match or not. </p>
<p>Thanks for the info, UNMstudent! It is very helpful. I heard there was a roommate matching service, but didn’t know what it was called. D will definitely do that.</p>
<p>I saw a typo in my original post. D will be staring in tube fall of '14, not ’ 15. </p>