University of Colorado-Boulder or Colorado School of Mines

Hey everyone, I’ve recently been admitted to both CU Boulder and Mines. I applied and got accepted into chemical engineering for both schools. However, I’ve decided that I want to take the pre-medical track. I was wondering which school I should go to for pre-med as well as engineering. I still plan to major in engineering, but medical school is my new end goal. I’ve visited both schools, and from what I can see, CU Boulder might be better if I want to go to medical school. However, I’ve also heard that Mines is more rigorous and a better school overall. I’m pretty much split between the two… any opinions?

For medical school, which one you attend really doesn’t matter. It’s good to have a higher GPA for medical school, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should go to CU Boulder. Otherwise, med schools tend not to care where you come from re: undergrad.

Also, keep in mind that your career aspirations may change several more times before you graduate. Both schools are great environments, but you don’t have to feel like you should choose solely or even primarily on the basis of what you think you want to do now.

They’re really different environments, right? Mines is a science and engineering college with around 5,000 undergraduates; it’s relatively small. That may mean smaller class sizes and more personal attention from professors, but it could also mean fewer student organizations and a higher propensity to get bored soon. It’s in a smaller city that’s pretty close to Denver, if being near a big city matters/is important to you. Your classmates will all be applied science and engineering students - which, depending on your preferences, could be a good or bad thing. The population is over two-thirds male.

CU-Boulder, on the other hand, is your typical large public university. Boulder also isn’t very far from Denver, but as a college town it also has its own flair and flavor to it. Larger student populations have drawbacks (larger intro classes) but also benefits (more student organizations). They’ve got traditional big college sports. Your classmates will be studying all kinds of things, and CU-Boulder also has a higher population of kids from out of state if that matters to you.

What do you want out of college? What kind of experience(s) would you like to have?

In my opinion, if you want to pursue something outside of engineering you shouldn’t go to CSM. CU-Boulder would offer more biochemical classes and generally has nicer facilities. However, if the large campus is not appealing to you and you love Golden, CSM would be your best bet.