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Hi Everyone!
I"ll be moving to Rio Rancho in December 2012, thanks to my dad's job being moved, and am very heavily leaning towards a CS degree. I'm a senior in high school.
I did an internship with a local software development company here in Lincoln, Nebraska, primarily in C#, but also included WPF. I'm in A.P. Computer Science now, where we mostly work with Java and Python.
I am still considering the University of Washington in Seattle, we flew up there to visit and were blown away by how good the program is, but for cheaper tuition for me, it'd mean gaining residency in Washington State.
So, in curiosity, what's UNM's Computer Science program like?
I do qualify for the lottery scholarship, but with the low GPA requirement of 2.5, I'm skeptical of the overall quality of the school.
I don't really know anything about it, but before you judge it based on something as nebulous as GPA requirements, I suggest you go to the school and speak to students and faculty in the CS department. You might also ask how often those students are accepted in graduate programs of their choice, get internships of choice etc.
I would also remind you that the GPA requirement is probably low for a reason, one possibly being that NM has notoriously poor education opportunities for many disenfranchised students across the state. Lower than typical entrance requirements mean students who struggled for whatever reason are not denied entrance and are gien an opportunity for a college education, even if they have to be remediated along the way. I don't think that necessarily implies that the quality of the faculty or the content of the program is substandard.
Maybe it is, as I said, I have no first hand knowledge and I don't know. I just would not assume that, because I think there are several reasons the bar is set a bit low in NM, and most of them have little to do with how much you could actually take away from what you would be offered from the program.
I do qualify for the lottery scholarship, but with the low GPA requirement of 2.5, I'm skeptical of the overall quality of the school.
Are you talking about the New Mexico Lottery Scholarship? It's a great Scholarship. They are giving away money. May be used at 25 public colleges, junior colleges or universities in New Mexico. Pays 100% of tuition for eight consecutive semesters of eligibility beginning with the second semester of college enrollment. It don't get better than that...
The residency requirements for lottery scholarships are (with exceptions) one year of living here. Since you're already a senior in high school, that throws a wrench into that.
Out-of-state tuition is still dirt cheap in NM by US standards, though.
UNM has some well-regarded CS divisions, like their animation engineering group.
NMT also has an excellent CS school.
NMSU has a CS school as well, though I've heard the classes are so oversubscribed that you'll often have to get a year or two of seniority in order to actually take the classes.
Commuting to any of these from RR is probably not healthy for your GPA.
I am in IT here in Albuquerque and work in an IT department with over 130 people. I know quite a few CS grads from UNM. They all are very good at what they do. Let me say that I also work with grads from lots of other well known CS schools as well as some from IIT in India. None are heads and shoulders above the grads from UNM. The grads from UNM hold their own and are as productive as anyone. That being said, I've heard that NM Tech has the best program in the state for CS.
The residency requirements for lottery scholarships are (with exceptions) one year of living here. Since you're already a senior in high school, that throws a wrench into that.
UNM has said that if my dad can get a official letter from his work stating that this move was because of his job, UNM will waive the 12 month residency requirement.
UNM has said that if my dad can get a official letter from his work stating that this move was because of his job, UNM will waive the 12 month residency requirement.
UNM and the NM Scholarship Fund are two separate entities.
At NMT, about 15% of the student body is CS and another 25% could pass for CS. The department doesn't graduate too many these days- I imagine many change degree plans, transfer schools, or drop out because even a partial CS education pays so well these days. That equals small class sizes (more a blessing than a curse). My biggest class at NMT had about 70 students in it and my smallest had 4. I'd expect a similar experience there.
At UNM, CS people are lost in a sea of Business, Psychology, Art, English, and more liberal arts style students. Football games, fraternities, parking, and Albuquerque all serve as distractions that Socorro doesn't have in the same measure.
You can probably guess my experience (having taken classes at both) in the difference in the quality of instruction.
You usually judge the quality of the department by the research they produce, its relevance and the opportunities you have to learn from someone who is a leader in their field. Only Stephanie Forrest in that department has, in my humble opinion, produced interesting research over the years, published a few books and textbook on genetic programming etc. (I am in CS also). Maybe also Darko Stefanovic...
If you are listening to someone who is in "IT", that't NOT Computer Science - beware.
My $.02
OD
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