Colorado School of Mines

Colleges and Universities A-Z Colorado School of Mines
21

<p>My son was just accepted for Fall 2014 admissions. We are in-state. He is only 15 and will be 16.5 when he enters. He will be a freshman, but will have 55 community college credits. We don’t expect them all to transfer, but he’s followed their core curriculum at CC, so most will.</p>

<p>Admissions are tough, even for in-state students. There are only 875 spots in the freshman class. The average high school GPA is 3.8 (unweighted as they don’t use weighted) ACT 30 and SAT 1350. The cost is also quite high even for a public school (but it “acts” like a private).</p>

<p>CSM has the highest ROI of any other public STEM school and its quality ranks at the top even with top schools nationwide. Most students are offered jobs in their junior year and the average starting salary is ~$68k. My husband, who is an engineer, works with several CSM grads and they are outstanding.</p>

<p>It’s a STEM school, not a liberal arts one, which is one reason it attracted my son. It does have a “geeky” vibe and while there are many sports teams, it’s not the focus of the school. The men outnumber women quite a lot. The campus is small and intimate and is nested right up against both the mountains and Denver. There are tons of year-round, outdoor activities.</p>

<p>It has a mining legend here in Colorado and yes the name does throw people off. Golden is a wonderful town.</p>

<p>Also a plus, especially for our son who will not have a driver’s license nor a car, is the Denver metro area transportation system (RTD). For CSM students, they can ride for free. The “W” line, from Downtown Denver, just opened last spring. You can ride from campus on the bus (two stops on campus) for 5 minutes to the light rail station, then a 30 minute ride to downtown for all the activities you could ever want. The light rail also goes north, southwest, and southeast and will go all the way to DIA in a couple of years.</p>

<p>Then there’s Lookout Mountain right by campus, where you’ll see bikers, joggers, hikers, and the like all the time.</p>

<p>The main focus is engineering and applied science. The classes are tough and most of the brainiacs who go there have B and C averages for the first time in their lives. It is just down the road from CU-Boulder (very liberal party school) and so close by if someone is looking for more college activities.</p>

<p>There are not a lot of in-house merit scholarships and they are tough. The highest I’ve heard about is around $12k. My son is “guaranteed” (they can’t say that outright) at least $5k based on his ACT score. The rest we won’t know until Feb-Mar.</p>

22

<p>I am from Boulder and went to CU, but now live in another state. DD just finished Freshman semester at Mines. I have visited many times and spent a lot of time in Golden. Some thoughts - Golden is a FANTASTIC little town, very cool downtown area, absolutely beautiful, and the town and University are completely inter-twined. I would move there in a heart beat if I could. Denver and Boulder are both very close (20 minutes to downtown Denver, less than 30 minutes to downtown Boulder) and there is now a light rail station in Golden that takes you to Denver and beyond (and free for Mines students as mentioned above). DD and friends took advantage and went to 2 concerts, a broadway show and bronco game just last semester. DD is an athlete and sports IS kind of a really big deal at Mines. Did you know Mines has more varsity sports than any other college in CO other than Air Force - including CU and CSU? And they are very strong in Division 2 - one of the top D2 athletic programs in the nation. Mines gets a lot of kids that could’ve easily played D1 but chose Mines for the education. There is both athletic and academic money available for OOS students. DD is in the new dorm (Maple) and it is beautiful. She has been very happy overall with the meal plan - the main cafeteria has good choices and it also includes subway, einsteins and starbucks. Next year, another new dorm (Elm) and another new cafeteria will open. Yes, there are lots more guys than girls - she loves it. She says that while there are plenty of the “stereo typical” nerdy guys, her group of guy friends are very social, all athletes and just very smart and driven. There seems to be plenty going on socially - not partying every night in the dorms (as was my experience at CU) but always lots going on the weekends. Also, Mines brings in comedians, musicians, move screenings, etc. I don’t think she could possibly be happier or having more fun. </p>

<p>All that said, it’s been tough academically - she was a near straight-A student in HS, NMF and AP scholar. This semester was very eye-opening and she is learning what it really means to “study” - and as a varsity athlete, to “manage time”. I thought HS had prepared her, but it’s a whole new world at Mines… There are no “blow-off” classes - every class is a STEM class and all extremely rigorous. What she loves is that everyone is in the same boat - lots of group study sessions, etc. Freshman all have almost an identical schedule.</p>

<p>If you are interested in STEM (or Economics) and you’re willing to work really hard, you owe it to yourself to check it out - it’s a really special place, IMHO!</p>

23

<p>My son was just offered his (hopefully first) scholarship for CSM. It’s $5000/year for all four years if he keeps 24 credits/year and a 2.5 GPA. FWIW, he has a 4.0 (5.0 weighted but CSM doesn’t use that), 34 ACT, #1 in class, and has 41 community college credits (55 total come May). He was also just invited to apply for the Harvey Scholars program, which is a full-tuition (no housing) scholarship for all four years (plus other benefits). There are only 14 spots so it’s pretty competitive.</p>