I was accepted to Colorado School of Mines this year and I am having a hard time deciding if I should attend. I was offered the chance to walk onto the cross country team and I applied as an Environmental Engineer. I am dedicated to studying the Environment but I am nervous about failing the engineering aspect. Why did you choose CSM? Are there typical college experiences offered at CSM? Do you feel the college spirit is strong there? Does it being a smaller school change the experience you had or are having? How difficult would you say the course load is? Would doing athletics and engineering be manageable? Sorry for all the questions.
I’m in a similar situation. I’m trying to pick between CSM, RPI, and Rose-Hulman but I want to get some current students’ perspectives. What other schools are you looking at?
@Howtochoose18
Curious how did you get the walk-on opportunity for XC? Did you contact the coach during the application process?
Good luck deciding!
@sunnyschool I stumbled across this post. I was a XC walk-on, many years ago, at the University of Virginia. What I did is I contacted the XC coach, said I was interested in being part of the team. He sent me the summer workout, and told me there would be an 8K time trial at the start of the school year. I did the summer workouts, did the time trial. My time (27:11) was good enough to join the team as a walk-on.
CSM has a very large percentage of engineers, and the majority of those not majoring in engineering are in math, chemistry, bio,geology, etc. It also has a high percentage of athletes, so yes, it can be done. My daughter was a D2 athlete (not at Mines) and an engineer. She was very organized and studied while on buses and didn’t waste a lot of time.
Look at the XC schedule and see how often there are meets and how far away they are. A lot of the time in athletics is the time spent at games, meets, and traveling. Looks like last year they went to Colorado Springs and Hays, KS (bus trips) and twice to Pittsburgh (plane).
I didn’t go to CSM but know a lot of people who did. There is a typical college experience at Mines with football, fraternities, clubs and activities. It is certainly more ‘sciency’ than other schools but that’s how STEM schools are. There are probably more outdoor activities than at other STEM schools because it is in the foothills so literally steps away from hiking trails, Clear Creek the allows for tubing and kayaking, the highway to go skiing, etc. Training at altitude gives you an advantage when you run against flatlanders.
im hip @twoinanddone