The Colorado School of Mines

Date: Apr 13 2013
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
I transferred into Mines petroleum engineering. It's a big program here, and the department is basically the spoiled child of the university, which is great if you're in it. Mines has a reputation for being hard, and it is—but definitely not impossibly so. If you are smart and dedicated, you'll be fine. But it does take a lot of work compared to other schools, and it isn't very forgiving if you fall behind, so DONT. While some of the material is hard, every class I've taken provided an abundance of resources to ensure that you understand what's going on and are prepared for the tests. You're responsible for your own success at Mines, and they don't have a lot of sympathy for people who can't pass muster. It's a real sink or swim environment, but that's why the school is respected.

Being on the front range and near Denver also has it's perks, it's not hard to venture out or find outdoorsy stuff to do. But believe me, you really won't have a lot of time.

Socially, Mines isn't as bad as the worst reports, but do not come here for the social experience, if that was the big draw for you. There's a lot of interesting people who aren't all nerds, but of course there's quite a bit of the stereotypical videogame addicts and brainiacs. There's also a lot of smart rednecks, but I like those sorts of people. There's not a lot of girls either, but there's at least a few fine ones to remind you what you're missing out on. The student body as a whole is a little thin on life experience though, which brings me to my next point.

I would not recommend coming here straight out of high school. While Mines is a fast-track to a decent or better career somewhere, you need to just go live your life a little bit before coming here. Seriously, what's the rush!? I see so many kids here who have little idea what engineering even is, yet they are dead set on it and have their whole life mapped out. Really there is so much more out there besides school and engineering, and trust me, you can still get it in if you really want to?you should just really be sure that you want to! Don't come here because your parents pressured you into it. You won't have much of a chance to do any real living once you're a full time mines student—while it is a good investment in your future, it is also a major sacrifice—and between summer internships and when you get sucked into the corporate treadmill afterward, things will be even worse. Your youth will be squandered, and no job or degree will ever give that back to you. Anyone who tells you otherwise hasn't really done much living themselves. So take a few years for yourself, go travel, go crazy, see if you have some artistic talent you can make a living on so that you don't need to get an engineering degree, because that would be much more rewarding than the Mines path in my opinion. But not all of us are endowed as such nor can afford the opportunity to explore the world and themselves—and if you decide that you want to be an engineer, Mines is a good spot for that, and it's especially hard to beat if you're interested in mining, petroleum, etc.