Gates Scholar transfers to get closer to home

Ricardo Vasquez began his college experience at Boston University, more than 2,000 miles and a world away from his hometown of Vinton, Texas, a suburb of El Paso.

Vasquez had just received the Gates Scholarship and was among the scholarship’s first cohort. Boston University had a six-year doctor of physical therapy program where he could go straight from his undergraduate studies to pursuing his graduate degrees without applying.

But despite that university’s prestige, Vasquez didn’t feel at home.

“When I got there, I realized there was a personality difference,” Vasquez said. “I didn’t really mesh into their system entirely. It didn’t really feel like home.”

After one semester at Boston University, Vasquez transferred to New Mexico State University, where his education would be fully paid for through Pell Grants, the “A” Mountain transfer scholarship and NMSU’s out-of-state competitive discount, along with his Gates Scholarship award. At NMSU, Vasquez is closer to his family, and he’s discovered faculty who care about his future.

“My family is always pretty much an hour away, so that provides that extra emotional and social support that I believe is really important and really valuable,” Vasquez said.

Vasquez is NMSU’s first Gates Scholar. The Gates Scholarship was formerly known as the Gates Millennium Scholarship, but beginning in 2018 it became the Gates Scholarship funded by the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. The Gates Scholarship is a highly selective, full scholarship for exceptional, Pelleligible, minority high school seniors. The scholarship is awarded to 300 top student leaders each year.

Now a kinesiology major, Vasquez is already looking into graduate physical therapy and occupational therapy programs in New Mexico and Texas.