New Mexico State (Las Cruces, Santa Fe: school, university, live)

[city_data91]

I got into New Mexico State. I am torn between New Mexico State and the University of Arizona. Which college should I choose and why?

[cheeser]

Tough call. What's your intended major? If I was accepted to both, I would choose U of A. Tucson's just a bigger city but that's not to say Las Cruces is bad. I've lived in both cities and love them equally. My two sisters and sister-in-law graduated from NMSU and they are doing very well for themselves, so what do I know? Good luck with whatever you do. It's nice to have choices, though.

[city_data91]

I am a Geography major.

[mike0421]

Originally Posted by city_data91

I am a Geography major.

I've taken a couple of Master's level courses at NMSU in the geoscience department. I know pretty much the entire faculty. I think if you desire to be a future Geography professor, NMSU would be the place for you. If, however, you want to take your trade (mine is in GIS) into the real world, NMSU's faculty doesn't IMO, align this major to perspective students who desire to go into the private sector.

[city_data91]

I most likely plan on working in GIS or cartography. Do you have any advice (not just college-related, but in general with a GIS/cartography career)? Since you work in GIS, you would know.

[mike0421]

Originally Posted by city_data91

I most likely plan on working in GIS or cartography. Do you have any advice (not just college-related, but in general with a GIS/cartography career)? Since you work in GIS, you would know.

Definitely have some advice for you. Make your minor Computer Science. This is very important. Any school that is serious about producing students that are proficient in GIS has to have Comp Sci as an undertaking. Within that minor, the following courses are essential, going forward: a) databases, specifically working within a SQL server framework. The current breakdown in enterprise databases within the GIS community is about 60% SQL, 35% Oracle, and 5% DB2/Informix. Also, you want to take classes in b)programming, especially Javascript, and .NET. The folks at the Geoscience department at NMSU are still working, in many cases, in the command line era. They have no idea about maintaing enterprise databases in a production environment. Many of them would be more attuned to writing a 30 page thesis paper on the spatial patterns and interpolating inverse distance relationships of mockingbird crap patterns on a Range Rover windshield in Santa Fe, than on something more important, namely, the architecture (software, hardware, middleware) of a GIS. It's a whole different ball game out there in the GIS world from 10 years ago, even 5 years ago. If NMSU's faculty had a forte, it would be spatial analysis. There's a lot more to GIS than that these days.

Perhaps if you want more info, for the sake of brevity, we could turn continue this as a DM. I am sure I've put many of our readers to sleep.

[bradly]

NMSU!, by a long shot.. belive me.

[malamute]

I think it depends on individual tastes and wants. Myself, I'd pick NMSU because for one the weather in NM is more mild, it never gets very hot like Tucson does but Tucson is a beautiful city. I prefer Las Cruces though.

[city_data91]

I applied for that out of state scholarship where if you win, you get in state tuition. Does anyone know how likely it is to get the scholarship?

Whether or not I get this scholarship will be a big factor in determining which college I go to. I already got a scholarship at Arizona, but it's not as big as the scholarship I might get at NMSU. Arizona with the scholarship will cost about as much as NMSU without the scholarship (NMSU is cheaper to start with).

[bradly]

[MOD EDIT]


But anyways about NMSU tuition I think it is around $1,500? that is slightly higher than UNM's $1,300. Someone correct me if i'm wrong?