Colorado School of Mines vs New Mexico Tech vs CU Boulder for geophysics?

Hi, I am a junior in high school looking for advice. I live in Colorado and want to get a degree in geosciences, possibly geophysics, and I am trying to decide which of these places is the best option, and if there are other options that I have overlooked. I do not believe that admissions standards will be much of a concern, but out-of-state tuition is. Any advice is welcome and appreciated.

Unless you want to go farther away for college I would suggest Mines or CU Boulder over NM Tech. They’re higher ranked and the name is more recognizable.

Mines is a world leader in everything mining related, so they’re a great fit for geophysics or something similar. If you decide to switch to any of their engineering degrees you will be fine. The problem is if you decide you want to do something entirely different.

CU has an excellent engineering school and is strong in the geosciences. Maybe not as strong as Mines, but solid. The advantages of CU is the true college experience, variety of majors, and a better engineering school.

Have you visited? They have very different feels. Mines is a more nerdy/engineering with a subdued party scene. CU Boulder has a strong party culture, but that’s not as evident in the engineering school.

I’ve been on both campuses numerous times, so if you have any specific questions I might be able to help.

btw, NM Tech gives Colorado resident instate tuition, so it’s the lower cost school. You also might like NM school of Mines or U of NM.

I have not been able to visit either campus, but I do think I would be more comfortable on the smaller Mines campus.

Would you hapen to know about the availability of geoscience related undergrad student research opportunities at either CU or CSM?

Also, I know that a lot of Mines graduates go into the fossil fuel industry, a career path that I do not wish to take. Does that impact the desireability of CSM at all?

It feels like there is more research opportunities at Mines, but a lot of that is because CU is so big and it’s competitive to get those opportunities. Mines also prides itself on being very hands on. Both schools will be dealing with how to manage lab activity with the pandemic still active. The one lab that I know a lot about is at CU, and they’re not sure there will be undergrad opportunities because they might need to keep the number of people in the lab down plus they currently don’t have any PPE supplies.

Mines is trying very hard to change the reputation of only a mining school, and I do think it’s true if you want to work in something similar like construction or environmental. I think it’s degrees like CS though that have no connection to mining.

What type of job/career are you thinking about?

If I don’t go beyond bachelor’s I will probably go into environmental. Depending on how I feel 5 years from now, I might go all the way to Phd and go into research. I do agree that Mines seems to have better options for research/hands on experience which is what i want.

On a competely unrelated note, in your experience, AlwaysMoving, what are the best dorms at Mines or CU and for what reasons? I have done some research about dorms at CSM, and basically none anywhere else.