r/ColoradoSchoolOfMines

My son will be applying to Mines, Boulder and CSU Fort Collins. We are having difficulty in trying to decide which would be the better fit for him and job opportunities.

When we looked at Boulder's engineering freshmen profile, its very much on the high end. Their incoming class had a GPA of 3.96-4.44 weighed and SATs were 1370-1500. For Colorado School of Mines, their average is 3.84 unweighted and 1372 is their average.

A couple of questions comes up to us. Does sending no test scores hurt the Mines application? Boulder engineering seems very selective so we obviously think that it would be beneficial for him to take the test. A lot of parents last year complained that their kid couldn't get into Boulder's engineering program. The school counselor even explained to me that Boulder is test-heavy and she's seen students with a 700s on SAT math get accepted while those who did test optional or fell short were denied.

I can also see that Boulder's engineering placement in big companies is impressive. They have the largest alumni in Lockheed, Boeing, RTX, Northrop, Amazon and Microsoft in the state. Was wondering if that is just because they're a much larger state university ? Mines' strength is in energy engineering and construction industries. They do send grads in big companies but they come in much smaller sizes.

Look, I know this is going to be controversial, but somebody has to say it.

It’s 2026. We should be better than this.

And yet, every day on this campus, I hear people casually throwing around the hard R:

“Oredigger.”

Just like that. Full pronunciation. Every syllable. Zero hesitation. Sometimes faculty say it. Sometimes administrators say it. Heck, new freshmen even go to an entire "Oredigger" Camp.

Please.

If you absolutely must use the term, “Oredigga” is right there. It conveys the same general idea without the unnecessarily aggressive (and problematic) R.

I understand that “Oredigger” has a long history at Mines. I understand that it refers to our mining heritage. I understand that Blaster has a tiny little pickaxe and everything. That doesn’t mean language can’t evolve.

I’m not asking for much. I’m just asking the Mines community to think before speaking, educate themselves, and perhaps consider why they feel so entitled to that final consonant.

Be better, my Orediggas!

We have work to do.

After today’s convocation I’m at the last minute to finalize my decision to attend. I am a first year BioMed at ASU with a 4.0 which I can easily maintain. My options are: finish at Mines and not have a 4.0, or continue at ASU. I’m concerned that in terms of internships (Lockheed.. etc.) might prefer a mines degree (with research and advanced projects on the resume) versus a perfect ASU degree where I have no projects for the resume and pretty much nothing else to add for internship application. ( I also have completed the CU Boulder Engineering Management Master (Lockheed Martin program.)… which by the way is way to easy and doesn’t require a complete undergrad.( Kinda a BS degree). I’m also a perfectionist which obviously has to end.

It’s down to this:

Sum Cum Laude at ASU and nothing else on the resume and poor structure. (Partially online) (If I get internships: personal growth that way.)

CSM, (hopefully don’t flunk out) solid structure and pipelines, cool projects, etc. (also less flexibility because of time constraints / forced to personally grow.)

I’m mostly concerned about outcomes: internships and getting my foot in those doors. I really don’t want to engineer parking lots…. But I like the idea of self direction without mines I’m scared I don’t have the security of getting in those doors without mines…

please give insight asap and ask questions if you need clarity of my situation.

I can’t come to a conclusion and it’s nerve wracking.

Hey everybody I’m an incoming freshman at CSM and was wondering if the biochem program at Mines is worth it or if its just a weed out major

are soldering irons allowed in the dorms? im assuming they arent since theyre kinda a fire hazard, but i dont see anything that explicitly says that theyre banned. i can also see them being permitted for EE students so i really dont know.

Does anyone know if you can park on campus overnight?

I am an incoming freshman. My parents and friends live about 1 hour and 30 mins from Mines in Loveland, and I would like to be able to visit them on some weekends. However, I've been made aware several times that getting a parking permit as a freshman is nearly impossible.

Yes, I am aware that I could apply several months after the semester starts and that may work, but I'd like to have access to parking from the very start of the semester as it is significantly more convenient.

So, to any current or former Mines students, does anyone know of any long-term parking off campus? I only need it for the weekends and occasional drives, so it's fine if it's a little ways off campus. I can use the ore-cart to get to it; I just need somewhere in Golden that I can park at (even if I have to pay)

I’m a bit confused still about what Mines is about? All the welcome events feel really different from other colleges.

Why is there a need to have al of this. Sorry if I sound really ignorant right now.

I wanted to give everyone a quick camping item to bring for the Oredigger Camp:

• Sunscreen though your Camp Counselors should have these, just in case you need one.
• Your phone and a charger because you will be staying at camp for a couple of days
• Showering items and Hygiene products like toothbrush
• Water bottle though provided
• Comfortable clothing like that will last you a few days and extra pairs of socks

You won't need to bring everything from your dorm.

Please have fun!

Hello, I plan to take Physics 1 next semester and wanted to ask if there are any textbooks or materials required for the course. A few people on Rate My Professor mentioned using a textbook. Could anyone tell me the name of the textbook if it's needed, or share any other materials you've found helpful for the class? Thanks!

I was wondering if there are any safe(ish) spots on campus to park a bicycle during the day and into the early evening? I have a nicer hybrid bicycle (worth maybe $500 on the used market) and will be commuting to campus every day. I already have a U-lock and a cable to lock my front wheel. I saw that there are storage lockers but those are only for folks living on campus as far as I can tell.

To all the 2nd year students, does everyone know what we are required to bring to our dorm? During Freshman year things like toilet paper, trash cans, and bedding were provided to you. However, in Jackson I know those items were not provided. I still have no idea what the dorm actually look like due to the housing being really new. Sorry there was no email from Mines.

I saw that there is a new gym at the newly opened Lookout Apartments. Has anyone been there yet? How does it compare to the rec center? Is there anywhere to shower there or is it just the gym equipment?

Apparently he did something really bad? Anyone got any clue.

I just finished my ChemE field session, and wanted to give an honest review and tips for any aspiring ChemEs here, as I found it hard to know what to expect when all the reviews here are 5+ years. If you haven’t heard, ChemE field session has a legacy of being one of the hardest courses you can take at Mines, and I would agree with this. Unit Ops is not like any other course you will ever take. It is a SUPER fast paced 5week course (the 6th week is a makeup week if needed), with back to back to back labs. You will generally have two labs a week, with the first lab leading to an oral presentation the next day while the second lab leads to a report due a week later. The workload is intense, and you need to treat this course as your full time job for the 5 weeks. Genuinely, do not plan on doing anything for these 5 weeks, you and your teammates need all the time you get. The final lab is a repeat lab of an earlier experiment which leads to a final briefing meeting with the professor the next day. If you want to succeed in this course, you need to be able to juggle three or more experiments at a time and manage your time well.
Your class will be divided into two or more sections/houses. In these sections, you will rotate through groups for every experiment. I had groups of three, but my class was exceptionally small, so that could vary. In every experiment, one of the people in your group will be randomly assigned group lead. You will not get lucky and be able to skip being group lead, everyone is group lead for 3 experiments in my case. Being group lead comes with some increased responsibility, mainly discussing the prelab with the professor. Your whole group will attend the prelab meeting, but generally, aside from a few remarks, only the group lead is discussing with the professor and only the group lead gets a grade for the prelab (unlike reports or orals). Be a good teammate/leader if assigned. More than a quarter of your grade comes from peer evaluations and professor evaluations. The other 60ish percent come from the labs and stuff ofc.
Don’t be afraid of the professors, and don’t take criticism personally. From this course, I got the feeling that they genuinely wanted me to learn and grow as much as possible. Even though their expectations for me rose every week, I was able to get there with their support. Please take advantage of the faculty.
In a general week, you will attend your prelab, then attend your lab (it is 9-5, so make sure to bring water and food). There is no designated lunch break, but work out a good time to take a lunch break within your group. After lab, you will need to immediately work on analysis and your presentation THE NEXT DAY. These nights, you will likely be staying up to midnight if not longer. Prepare for several long nights like this. Next day, you will have draft reviews for the report you started the week before with the oral presentation (from yesterday) later in the day. You will then need to prepare pre lab for the next days lab. Next day is a lab (prelab then lab), but this time you have a report due in a week. Then, it’s general meeting and the weekend, but you need to be working on your report, but also thinking about next week’s prelabs. So yes, very quick turn around and lots of juggling deadlines and experiments.
The course is very difficult and seems overwhelming, but it really is nothing to be scared of. The professors and TAs want to see you succeed. Don’t be scared to ask questions to get a better understanding of the material, that’s what an engineer would do. This is no work to be done alone, so rely on your teammates as they will rely on you. This course is heavy on building communication and teamwork skills aside from the obvious technical aspect, so it is imperative to make and effort to work in a team. Generally, if you do your part and put in the effort, you should pass easily. I have not heard of many people that have outright failed this course, although achieving an A will be very difficult. During field session, you will say it’s possibly the worst ever and that it sucks, and I will agree that the work absolutely sucks. But I got so much learning and growth out of it, it is a really good learning experience in the long run. It was really interesting seeing how all the problems I’ve been solving on homework and exams applied in reality.
I know Mines is a place of nerds, and a lot of us (me included) often like to keep to ourselves and stay home whenever we can, but I urge you (if you consider yourself introverted as well) to come out of your shell and make some new friends here. It helps that you are forced into groups, but I met so many nice people here just by attending group hang outs someone more outgoing set up. If not for the people I met and the small community I built within these 5 weeks, I would have gone insane. So, as important as getting the work done is, go downtown for a treat with your group after lab before working on your oral. Take breaks every now and then and just talk about stuff other than field session with your team. And, of course, hit up GCB when all is said and done.
During field session, it feels like it never ends. You work all day, you probably work all night, and I even dreamt about field session a few times. Would I voluntarily do this again? Absolutely not. But it was very valuable nonetheless. I know this is long, but when I was searching for info online about this course, I personally would have felt more at ease with a review such as this, so thought it would be nice to pay it forward with my newfound wisdom. Good luck out there ChemEs! If you are curious about the specific material and experiments, feel free to ask.