strengths

It is in New Mexico where you can get away with just about anything.

weaknesses

It is in Albuquerque.
It is in Albuquerque.
It is in Albuquerque.

There is however Isleta Casino about 20 miles away from campus that is muy excellente. Free drinks!

so i guess you don't like albuquerque? or unicorns? how is the program, though?

I've heard the facilities are nice. The school was run by a man named Roger Schluntz who before he was dean there was dean at the University of Miami ... pre-Plater Zyberk years.

Rumor at U.Miami was he was "removed" from the office and ran it quite poorly. Whether he ran UNM like he did UM is unknown.

He recently retired from UNM, so I imagine there will be a regime change. If they were smart, the board of directors would try and lure Antoine Predock to restart the program in his own image.

Having only gone to the undergrad program at UNM, I can offer what I saw as an undergrad and also what I have seen from friends who went through the graduate program:

The graduate program is VERY practical in focus with a emphasis on sustainable construction. You will know more about Trombe walls than you ever care to know. The extent of digital design in studio is SketchUp, although I believe there is an elective that introduces some other programs (although I think the "other" is really FormZ which no one uses anymore). Because very few people ever leave New Mexico, it often seems like the architecture program is little more than a training facility for the local offices so often the student work doesn't really deviate very far from the local status quo. It's an unfortunate cycle because the graduates just continue on into local jobs and the architecture of the city/state rarely changes. You can see some samples of the student work here and from what I have seen from current students and visits into the school, this is pretty accurate in terms of what the studio professors are looking for.

Although the faculty is knowledgeable, it's largely comprised of tenured faculty who have been teaching in the program for quite a long time. In general, younger staff are pushed into teaching undergraduate studios. This is both a blessing and a curse as sometimes I believe the lack of younger staff in the graduate program prohibits much in the way of advancement. Having some of these instructors myself I often sat in class wondering if if it was 1960.

The new building is nice because if finally housed the entire program in one building AND it's on campus. Previously the program was in 3 buildings, all off campus and the grad building (which was almost a mile from the rest of the buildings) was a former abortion clinic. Fun times. The only thing I can say about the new building is that they are pretty militaristic about keeping it in brand new condition, so don't expect there to be a messy studio environment that many architecture programs almost seem to pride themselves on. I hear they expanded their shop as part of the new building (which wasn't hard since there wasn't one to begin with) but I don't much about it other than someone already caught the laser-cutter on fire. I've never really found much of a need for shop facilities anyway.

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Although that probably paints a slightly negative view, there is some good. For starters, the school recently changed Deans which can only mean good things as the previous Dean was truly awful. Whether or not that means there will be changes in courses and faculty remains to be seen, however I would venture to say that it is possible.

The further you get into the program, the more flexibility you have on courses and faculty so after the first year or so you may begin to find alternative avenues to pursue and some greater flexibility in design and approach. In my experience there usually seems to be a small group of instructors in the program that take a divergent approach to the general mindset of the school and there can be much to gain from finding these individuals. The benefit is that in some ways you get 2 educations in 1 as you can bounce between the more traditional and the more progressive. I didn't appreciate that fact until I got to graduate school (not in New Mexico) and realized that I gotten a fairly expansive education in comparison to some of the other people in my class who went to schools with a more direct and narrow focus. It's a personal preference thing and I know many people who were often frustrated at the sometimes conflicting and not always focused nature of the program.

Also I believe that in the new building all levels of studio, grad and undergrad, are on one open floor which to me is actually a really good idea because generally your fellow students are better at giving you feedback than the instructors. I also like the idea of grad and undergrad students being able to feed off one another and having that awareness of what the other classes are doing. In a way it helps everyone advance to the next level a lot faster.

For students coming from other areas of the country, New Mexico is unique in it's architecture so there is always the joy of being able to study indigenous buildings. I know many people who came here for the graduate program for that reason and the focus the school has on historic preservation. Although Albuquerque itself is somewhat architecture deficient, there are many places to travel around the state for day trips to see ruins, etc.

There isn't much to say about Albuquerque outside of what you expect. It's a pretty standard high-desert/mountain city... basically Denver but a lot smaller. If you are into outdoor activities (running, biking, skiing, hiking, etc.) then there is plenty to keep you busy. The cost of living is pretty cheap and the weather is fairly moderate. Your experience will largely depend on where you are moving from. If you are used to a larger city with active nightlife, shopping etc. well then you are probably going to be pretty disappointed as there is not really a lot going on there. However if you make the effort it's not such a bad place to live. The small-town nature has often worked to my benefit but I am sometimes frustrated at the lack of nightlife and cultural events (specifically concerts). Considering you will be in school, I douby much of this will have a huge factor on your life anyway.

All in all, it's not a bad school or city but it really depends on you to make a little more of an effort to find the opportunities you are interested in.

I went there so it can't be all bad...

ImportantUNMPostFromThePast

Thanks for the helpful replies. Are there a lot of grad students enrolled in the program? How about at UNM overall?

I will be heading to UNM this fall into the M.Arch 2year. I am coming from UNLV in Las Vegas.

No where is going to be as lively as Las Vegas, except maybe LA or New York, so I've already prepared myself for that. I will only be there for 2 years anyway, then it's most likely back to Vegas or possibly LA. Although the report that there is a lack of music and concerts is disturbing because I have been exploring music lately but I will deal with it.

The reason I am going is the (sort of) emphasis on building. I applied to a few different schools that my instructors and my own research found to be somewhat balanced between experimental and pragmatic. My undergrad has been mostly about experimentation and theory but I have recently tried to begin to figure out a way to actually build these concepts.

I have yet to visit the school but it seems better than UNLV and I like the fact that there is a sort of established culture in Albuquerque and that is something Vegas is really trying to move towards and the idea of a local culture has been present in my undergrad work for awhile.

It's also a big plus that the cost of living is really low there. Which was a pretty big factor when evaluating the schools I got into.

This is a bit rambling because I am in Studio right now trying to look like I'm doing work. :)