Colorado School of Mines

Colorado School of Mines is a public school founded in 1874. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 5,852 (Fall 2023) on a 500-acre campus. The university operates on a semester-based academic calendar. Colorado School of Mines is ranked 76th in the nation in the 2025 edition of Best Colleges. In-state tuition and fees are $21,186 and out-of-state tuition and fees are $44,376.

For students who want to pursue a career in the sciences, opportunities abound at Colorado School of Mines. This is a public engineering and applied science school in Golden, Colorado, with 14 academic departments, including mechanical engineering and geophysics. The school also offers programs in the Department of Liberal Arts and International Studies and the Department of Economics and Business. When not studying, the school's location is perfect for outdoor recreation. Located 13 miles from the state capital of Denver, Gordon is nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where students can bike, hike and climb. There is also a rock climbing wall on campus where students can test their skills before attempting to scale the Rockies. Cold-weather sports enthusiasts can participate in the annual Winter Carnival, a student-organized event that features skiing and snowboarding at local resorts. The University of Mines' athletic teams, known as the Orediggers, compete in the NCAA Division II Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, which is comprised primarily of other teams in Colorado. The school's mascot is "Blaster" the burro, and the giant "M" on nearby Mount Zion signifies school spirit. There are more than 140 student clubs and organizations, including seven fraternities and three sororities. First-year students are required to live on campus. Even the student newspaper, The Oredigger, is science-based, including a weekly roundup of new discoveries and a weekly geek feature.

Two on-campus energy innovation centers, the Center for Science and Engineering in Renewable Materials Research and the Institute for Unconventional Gas and Oil Research, offer numerous research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. There is also a geology museum on campus, which is free and allows students to view exhibits ranging from moon rocks to fossilized dinosaur tracks. Mines alumni have some of the highest starting salaries in the country, and graduates have gone on to become accomplished engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs. Notable alumni include Andrew Swiger, senior vice president and chief financial officer of ExxonMobil, and Harold M. Korell, executive chairman of the Southwestern Energy Board of Directors.