<p>I am planning on majoring in Mining engineering and both these schools pull EXCEPTIONAL emplyoment numbers for their graduates (97% over all majors, 100% for mining engineers). However Colorado is known world-wide but South Dakota is known only to the Mid-west I have read. </p>
<p>My question is, is it worth paying 4x the tuition to go to a school that just has better world-wide recognition?</p>
<p>If you can EASILY afford the difference, then yes, it is worth it. If not, or it will be a struggle, then no.</p>
<p>I agree that paying 4x more does not make a lot of sense but Golden is a much better location than Rapid City. </p>
<p>Rapid City is in the middle of nowhere, like if you are used to big city amenities, the closest large city would be Denver-6 hours away!</p>
<p>SDSM&T is a very small school- it only has about 2000 students. If you only care about academics and don’t mind living in the middle of nowhere for 4 years, I think SDSM&T could be a good choice</p>
<p>@bschoolwiz, i’ve lived in the suburbs in nj my whole life so im used to a laid back lifestyle but I realize that SDSM&T would be a hard school to stay the full duration at. Colorado school of mines is small too but it atleast has a city nearby. Also, I am an African-American and I have read that South Dakota is a REALLY conservative state with a lot of hicks.<br>
Honestly I think if Colorado accepts me I’ll just have to take out the loans…</p>
<p>I would go with the school you like better from a personal fit point of view since both schools have pretty strong, reputable programs. </p>
<p>Mining engineering doesn’t strike me (no pun intended) as a prestige-driven field, so I don’t think it’s worth paying that extra money.</p>
<p>I think this depends very heavily on how much your actual price at each institution will be. If you’re paying full, Mines will cost over $100,000 more. I don’t think anyone here would advocate going into that much extra debt.</p>
<p>^^ Yeah, exactly. Honestly I think i can get into both schools when i apply in september, but as Fractalmstr said, mining engineering doesn’t really need a prestigious school. I just feel that I would be completely sacrificing my social life at south dakota. While at Colorado I might be able to find a group i like. Also, both schools literally the same numbers for mining engineers when it comes to employment.</p>
<p>SDSM&T’s reputation is more widely recognized than you think. Engineering at SDSM&T is highly thought of by engineers nationally, including Mechanical Engineers. Boeing and other large companies come to Rapid City to recruit engineers. Both of these engineering colleges are very good, but don’t dismiss SDSM&T just because Rapid City is not a metropolis (neither is Golden, CO incidentally). The assets of the Black Hills region are very clear, if you enjoy an outdoor and active lifestyle. But there are good restaurants and Jazz festivals in Rapid City. Of course, you’ll be too busy studying to be a night owl, but recreation and entertainment are there if you look for them.</p>
<p>As for diversity, neither SDSM&T nor CSM posesses a large ethnic minority population, but African American students appear to excel at Rapid City. This year’s outgoing student body president at SDSM&T is an African American, and the school’s news site reports that he has a job offer in hand. He and a female African American senior were named to the school’s Academic Hall of Fame earlier this Spring. Sounds like they both thrived in Rapid City, so you can throw the stereotypes out of the window.</p>
<p>CSM has a great engineering program but you will be selling yourself short if you do not fully consider the academic rigor, great student life, career outcome and cost bargain of SDSM&T.</p>
<p>I know that I’ve never heard of anyone recommending UNReno on these forums, but it’s cheap and I think they do internships with Barrick and Newmont. Those are the two largest gold mining companies in the world, and they both have their flagship operations four hours from Reno where I live. I think Newmont or Barrick have had significant influence on their program as well. Make sure you’d be ok with living in Elko, Nevada if you wanted to work for them after you graduated. Just to give you an idea of these two companies, my uncle has only a diploma and went to Ghana for six months, when he came back they gave him an admin job making well over 100k a year. He’s worked for Newmont for 20-25 years. A lady I knew that moved here from Canada worked in HR(I assume a bachelors at least) and moved to Australia for Barrick on a two year contract. She’s making 500k+ there and will be relocated to their corporate offices in Salt Lake City when she comes back, making even more.</p>
<p>In addition to Nevada-Reno, I would also recommend Kentucky. Mining Engineering is sort of like Petroleum Engineering, there are very few schools that offer the program and I am sure you would have multiple job offers at graduation, regardless of where you go.</p>
<p>@LakeWashington; wow I didn’t know that and yeah it is quite a bargain compared to other engineering schools! Probably because there’s no income taxes in South Dakota</p>
<p>Yeah i looked at UNR as well and it was actually my top school a few weeks ago. DO you honestly think I’ll be fine no matter where I go? I know there are is such a demand for mining engineers but the curriculum and reputation of CSM and SDSMT seems to have an edge on the others since they are specifically focused on engineering.<br>
However, I took the online tour of UNR and I would definitely like it there.</p>
<p>So my question is, should I just say YOLO lmao?</p>
<p>You will be fine at either SDSM&T or CSM. I have no knowledge of U Nevada Reno. The question is, do you want free beer in Golden, Colorado? Or Do you want to win the Ice Ball championship in Rapid City (quiddich on ice, sort of, LOL)?</p>
<p>Save your money, head to Rapid City.</p>
<p>@LakeWashington; ahhh decisions decisions. DO you have any knowledge of PSU’s engineering creditaility? They are a state over from me but I dont like schools that really arent geared in any one direction but its about 19k a semester. Me and my friend were going to apply there instead of Nevada.</p>
<p>So right now im down to applying to SDSMT and PSU. Colorado is really expensive and further out west so idk if i’ll apply. </p>
<p>Thanks LakeWashington, very persuasive hehe.</p>
<p>Since you’re from Jersey, I’ll guess that by PSU you mean Penn State University.</p>
<p>I haven’t heard many complaints about the academics at PSU-State College, but that place is NOTORIOUSLY stingy when it comes to financial aid packages. And it is widely known that PSU is one of the most expensive schools for state residents in the U.S. So you can imagine that they don’t do much for out-of-state applicants. They sit on a load of money (endowment, etc.) and disperse relatively little of it for financial aid.</p>
<p>Your earlier inclinations toward a mining engineering degree from SDSM&T or CSM are reasonable. But if you’re so willing to travel and money/aid is a major criterion, consider a few other places where you will be an attractive candidate. For example, the University of Tulsa is an excellent school and the City of Tulsa’s fine urban assets may surprise some people who have never been been to this plains state/southwest metropolis. It has more people than Oklahoma City, I believe.</p>
<p>Penn State is excellent but if cost is an issue it might not be a good fit.</p>
<p>The extra distance to CSM compared to SDSMT is negligible, especially considering that you can catch a nonstop flight to DEN.</p>
<p>(FYI: OKC metro is larger than Tulsa, but both have some very attractive qualities. UTulsa is a good petroleum engineering school but I don’t believe they offer mining.)</p>
<p>I think the question is: how sure are you about mining engineering? What leads you to believe that this is the field for you?</p>
<p>I first started off at Rutgers as Pre-Pharm( completely my dads idea), but after talking to some kids who were only in their sophmore year who said that all they do is study in their rooms and barely get by, i pretty much dropped Pharmacy.<br>
I then stumbled upon Geology which appealed to me because I am an outdoor person, I really can’t sit down and do a 30 page paper unless the subject really interests me. But then I looked at it more and saw it wasn’t as secure as a field as I had hoped.<br>
So then I stumbled upon Geological Engineering, and it appealed to me because it wasn’t entirely to do with one subject area but had flexibility. But after more research I decided that it was maybe a little too broad? So then I jumped into the thing that really caught my interest which was mining.<br>
Traveling, working on IMPORTANT projects in teams, actually doing something that could effect people in their every day lives, and the most important thing was being innovative was something you got paid for. I just decided this was it.</p>
<p>But anyway, i am opening up a little more to petroleum. I know I can do the workload, I am a hard worker when I need to be. I was thinking of going to PSU and majoring in the Petroleum and Natural Gas program and minoring in Mining Engineering? That way I’m set either way and my dad wont be mad lol.</p>
<p>I do not mind traveling, i’m getting a suv in the winter so i’ll be fine traveling. You said if Tulane is a good petroleum school?</p>
<p>Look at the University of Wyoming, too, while you are looking. They have some really interesting programs for energy engineering, though I don’t know if they do mines. </p>
<p>They get a lot of oil and gas money and the industry is very invested in them. Also, it’s a great little university. 10,000 people, not too far from Denver.</p>
<p>I’d just look into it, if you are willing to head west.</p>
<p>You might also want to check out New Mexico Tech. It is a very good school for science and engineering, and the campus is located in New Mexico which is great if you like pretty scenery and outdoor activities. Costs are very reasonable as well.</p>
<p>Here is some more info for you if you’re interested in NMT:</p>
<p>[Costs[/url</a>]
[url=<a href=“http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mining/about.html]B.S”>http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mining/about.html]B.S</a>. Mineral Engineering](<a href=“http://www.nmt.edu/tuition-and-fees]Costs[/url”>http://www.nmt.edu/tuition-and-fees)</p>
<p>It is a mineral engineering degree, as opposed to a mining engineering degree, but the prospective jobs are the same for both, with possibly more opportunities for mineral engineering.</p>
<p>Yeah NMT is pretty damn cheap too, i just thought the area was a little sketchy.</p>
<p>The thing is PSU is only about 3 or 4 grand more expensive than NMT. </p>
<p>The only reason I am worried about money is that my dad told me I will be borrowing ALL of the money I need to for college in the future. I just don’t want to have the never ending debt cloud over my shoulder.</p>
<p>SDSMT will cost me about 16-17k per YEAR. NMT 15k per semester, PSU 18k per semester. Colorado is ridiculous I already scratched it. If i decide to go to SMSMT ill major in mining with a minor in computer science but if i go to PSU ill probably major in Petroleum and Natural gas then minor in mining engineering… Idk whats better</p>
<p>How many college credits have you completed (and with what GPA)? What were your high school GPA and ACT/SAT?</p>
<p>Have you considered starting at community college and transferring?</p>
<p>FYI: Pharmacy is a very tough program. So is engineering. You will not graduate with an engineering degree unless you are willing to sit down and get things done, even if you do not always find them interesting.</p>
<p>If you think Rapid City is remote, wait till you see Socorro. That being said, NMT is a good school and might be a nice option.</p>