davidthefat

I currently go to NMT. Visit. You'll need to visit before you get a grasp of how life is really like here. Also consider the fact that if you receive the WUE, you will not have the opportunity to get any other scholarships from the school. It's a good school if you don't mind skipping out on some of the stereotypical "college life". Honestly, it's really what you put in.

In response to the low graduation rate: all the majors on campus are either engineering or science. Given the high drop out rate of engineering majors in general, that's 50% gone right there. Another thing I would say contribute to the low rates are the NM secondary schools. AFAIK, NM has one of the worst (if not the worst) public educational system in the nation. That contributes to a lot of the students coming in to be lacking in the skills to succeed. But the school is really is fighting back on that and pushing freshmen programs. Many students start their freshman year taking trig or precalculus. I believe most start in Calc 1 though. Many kids drop or fail out of Calc 2 from what I've heard.

Now, with all the negatives aside, the school has great professors. There are those who are also very brilliant; it's just that they seem to be overshadowed by the not so great students.

eyemgh

Thank you both!

David, what "college life" things are missing at NMT?

M

davidthefat

Well considering that most of the population is some form of engineering majors, a lot of them are not very social. That was what I was trying to get at. Of course, there are many very smart people that comes to this school; may be it's the fact that I am a freshman that exposes me to a lot of the less stellar students. Most of them will drop out by my Sophomore year. You'll have to find the smart people as they will be mostly upper class men (those who have survived and stuck through). Regarding academics, I know of some who go to Caltech for grad school from NMT.

eyemgh

David,

Are there outdoor activities like hiking or skiing anywhere close by? What do students tend to do when not in class or studying?

M

davidthefat

What I do on my spare time does not apply to others. Here's what I do: I play pool, go to programming competitions (We have a club that does it every other week), hacking competitions/practice, gym (sometimes can't find the time or energy, but that's just my work load), and shoot (There's an air rifle club on campus. They compete and shoot real rifles like twice a week. Obviously off campus range). I am also part of the student government, which I would consider "activity". There are plenty of clubs to join. Other people play video games, board games, Magic the Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons, Nerf Gun and all sorts of games. There is nothing much in town, so most people up to Albuquerque on weekends, so it feels pretty barren on weekends.

mechadvice

I went to NC State for my Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering and Master's in Aerospace. They have a solid program. Professors are good. As far as college life, there are many things to do. Raleigh is a midsize city, not too big, not too small. The beach is two hours away to the east. The mountains are two hours away in the other direction. It's the south so people are really friendly.

colorado_mom

CO School of Mines is a great school for engineering, nice small size. It's a CO state school, but I'm not sure if it is on WUE.

ucbalumnus

The WUE list is here:

WICHE - Student Exchange Programs

Colorado School of Mines is not on it (and its normal out-of-state cost is much higher than for the Mines schools in New Mexico and South Dakota).

eyemgh

There's no WUE break. It would be $16k more per year than Colorado State and $20+k more than the rest. it's still on the list of schools for consideration, but I'm trying to figure out if it or even more expensive schools are worth it.

M

colorado_mom

SD School of Mines has one of the best deals I've seen for out-of-state students.

It looks like CO School of Mines has merit scholarships... you'd need to do some digging to determine likelihood and $ potential
Scholarship Information - Prospective Freshmen

eyemgh

Thanks! Do you know anything about SD school of mine? I don't. It is in SD which may explain a lot of the OOS deal. Wyoming is also very affordable.

M

ucbalumnus

SD Mines has about 2,000 undergraduate and 300 graduate students.

Selectivity does not seem to be very high; according to South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Admissions Information - CollegeData College Profile , only 58% of the freshman class had SAT math scores of 600 or higher. This may be related to its relatively low graduation rate of 46% (a study at the University of Oregon found that students entering with SAT math scores under 600 had very little chance of success in math-heavy majors: [1011.0663] Nonlinear Psychometric Thresholds for Physics and Mathematics ).

sheepster

We visited SD Mines year before last. The students we met seemed happy with the school and very excited about their programs. We looked mainly at computer science and atmospheric science. LA Times had an article last week (9-18-12) about how in demand the graduates are, and how their starting salaries are often higher than the starting salaries, on average, than Harvard grads.

eyemgh

ucbalum, the selectivity based on the fact they are a state school and the state they are in. It seems very analogous to New Mexico Tech.

Sheepster, how did you like it in general? Where did your S or D end up?

M

sheepster

In general, I thought the school was fine. Everyone we met there seemed friendly and sincere. It's pretty basic, amenity wise. I don't think that's a bad thing - some schools we've seen are ridiculously glitzy. They emphasized the opportunities for research and hands-on learning for everyone. If you look at their literature, I think they do a very good job of fairly representing themselves.
Rapid City is large for South Dakota, but if your child is looking for 'city life', this isn't it. There's a charming historic downtown, and then more modern stuff spread out from there. If outdoor activities are important, there's plenty to do in all seasons. Lots of wide open spaces, Mount Rushmore, the Badlands and Black Hills. I would have been very comfortable is S had chosen to go there. He ended up at a Catholic school in Minnesota (in an even smaller town), probably because he's always been in Catholic schools and was most comfortable with that vibe - nothing against the Mines.