Colorado School of Mines

Responses from the Student Interview

From a student  who identifies as Major: Geophysical Engineering
Minors: Geology and Computer Science double minor
Student Self Identifies as: Caucasian Bisexual Male

Summary

I’m part of [Mines Little Theatre], which is the theatre group at Mines. I do an internet radio show and I’m part of the Society of Student Geophysicists.

Background

Gender Identity: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual

High School Experience: Private school outside of Tacoma, WA with a graduating class of about 73 students. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: Geophysical Engineering
Minors: Geology and Computer Science double minor

Extracurricular Activities: I’m part of [Mines Little Theatre], which is the theatre group at Mines. I do an internet radio show and I’m part of the Society of Student Geophysicists.
Have any of your extracurricular activities had a particularly big impact on your experience?
They helped me get to know people when I was totally new to the school and didn’t know anyone. They gave me perspective on what it’s like to be a Mines student, as well. They were all very inclusive and friendly. The theater environment was probably the most impactful because I did theater in high school.

Academic Experience

Can you describe your weekly coursework for your major?
The first year is mostly all general classwork, like Chemistry 1, Physics 1, and English classes. The further you get into your major the more specific coursework you have. Right now, I have a lot of problem sets to do but also most of my classes are project-based, which requires a lot of planning and time management. Most classes that I’ve taken so far for my major, the homework makes up a greater portion of the final grade, however, a lot of it is exam-based as well.
Is there anything you feel your major’s department does especially well or poorly?
The more popular departments, like the Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science departments, are so large that you don’t get to know your advisor that well. But for the Geophysical Engineering department and the other smaller majors, you get to know your faculty advisor really well. When you declare Geophysical Engineering, you have to go and meet your advisor, which is unlike most other majors on campus. That definitely helps you get to know what you want to do, especially in Geophysics, because there’s a lot that you can do with it.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
It’s definitely collaborative. There’s always going to be one person who tries to be the best, but as soon as you get to Mines, people are so friendly. We’re all struggling together since it’s a hard school, so we’re all here to help each other out.
How accessible are your professors?
They’re very accessible. Most of my classes this semester are small, with the most being up to 50 people. The professors hold office hours where you can just walk in to ask questions or get advice. They are also always available by appointment if you email them and they’re always quick to respond.
What is your favorite part of the academics at Colorado School of Mines?
Probably getting to learn what geophysics is and what applications it has.
Why did you choose your major? Are you happy with your choice?
I chose it because I like going outside, I like rocks, and I like physics so I decided it would be a good thing to choose. I came into Mines as an Environmental Engineering major because I want to help the environment because I love it, but I didn’t really enjoy the chemistry aspect of environmental engineering so I switched to Geophysical Engineering.

Reasons to Attend

1) The salary after graduation is way higher than normal because the job placement is really great. [For 2018-19, 95% of students had jobs after graduation. And the average salary offer was $69,375.]

Reasons Not to Attend

1) If you don’t want a small school. I can’t think of any other reasons.

Around Campus

Where have you lived on and around campus?
Freshman: Bradford Hall, which is one of the traditional halls on campus, with one roommate.
Sophomore: Off-campus house with four other people – three guys and one girl. There’s no sophomore housing on campus but they’re constructing it now
How was transitioning from your hometown in Tacoma, WA to Golden, CO in terms of location?
Both towns are close to major cities and still small towns, so Golden made the transition quite easy. I also like to go outside and explore a lot, so my initial getting to know the town was biking or walking around and going into different restaurants and stores.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
I don’t think I’ve ever felt unsafe on campus. I don’t know anyone personally who has had things happen to them either. We get alerts when things happen so we can watch out for things, but they rarely happen.

Social Opportunities

What kind of weekend activities or nightlife do you like to participate in?
I usually go to parties or hang out with friends. If it’s a homework loaded weekend, we usually get together and have a study day on campus or at one of our houses. I usually love to go hiking or biking. Going to explore downtown Denver is always fun and easy because all of the public transportation systems are free for college students. If I go to a party, it’s not a big party. It’s usually on Saturdays and is just a few friends that get together and have fun or watch a TV show or something. We never go hard or have anything like you see on TV.
What is the impact of Greek life on the weekend options?
Occasionally, there will be a few frat parties if you can get it. Those can be exclusive for guys because it’s an engineering school so there’s a big gender gap. Girls always get in free and then guys have to be invited or be part of the frat itself.
How happy are you with the weekend options at Colorado School of Mines? Is there anything you would change about them if you could?
I’m pretty happy. A lot of the restaurants in town do college nights, even the golf course does college nights on Saturdays. I’m not that disappointed with the weekend life here because it’s mostly just doing homework, to be honest.

Campus Culture

How did you meet your closest friends?
Freshman year I came to be close to the guys who lived across the hall. In the traditional halls, you live so close to each other and the heating system was broken so it was on while it was hot out, so we all had our doors open and fans blowing. We just walked by somebody’s door and said hi and got to know them. There’s also an orientation class called Colorado School of Mines 101 which shows you where the financial aid office and the health and wellness center are, they give you a tour of campus to see where you will go, and do activities before classes start. I met some friends during that too. We have a cool thing we do during that called the Mines walk where you paint a rock from home White and bring it up, and then when you graduate you bring a rock down.
How would you describe the overall social scene at Colorado School of Mines?
If you get to know a good group of friends, then you’ll see them every once in a while if you’re not living with them because homework is kind of a burden. When I’m not doing homework, I try to hang out with people or go do something fun on my own. It depends on who you are really. I like to hang out with my friends a lot, but some people don’t like that as much. We have so much homework, especially when you’ve progressed through the school and into your major, that hanging out with your friends becomes more and more of a luxury. But, my classes are so small and I’m friends with a lot of people in my major that I’ll see them every day. It’s in class, which isn’t as fun, but you do get to see them. The school is also small enough that you can bump into a friend you haven’t seen in a while.
To what extent do people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
Gosh, I don’t know. I don’t think there’s much discrimination on campus at all. Being a part of the theater department, there are definitely a lot of LGBTQ people I know that you always find in a theater crowd. There are not many people of color here. I know engineering is mostly a White male kind of thing, but they’re trying to accept more people of color. [The undergraduate population is about 70% White, 10.5% Hispanic, 1% Black, and 4.5% Asian.]
How would you describe the LGBT+ community on campus? How strong is it?
Not a lot of people are Queer but they’re all fun to hang around if you get to know them. We’re just like any other Queer community except we’re nerds and not arts majors if you catch my drift.
How has the 70:30 Male-Female ratio impacted your experience?
It hasn’t impacted it in a negative way. It definitely is a different thing to see when you have a lot more guys than girls. I tend to make a lot of friends with girls and guys together, so I don’t really see a big gender gap. I know a lot of my friends are living in all-male houses and they see the gender gap more. Overall, I don’t think it’s a negative thing.
How do you like the size of Colorado School of Mines in terms of undergraduate enrollment? How has it impacted your experience? [There are about 5,150 students at Colorado School of Mines.]
I definitely like it, but if you get on somebody’s bad side, you’ll bump into them every once in a while. I like it being a smaller school because I went to a smaller high school. I’ve heard people complain about it being such a small school and I’ve heard myself say that too, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I think it’s a good thing because I get to know people a lot better and make better connections.
How would you describe the student body?
Nerds and Geeks [laughs]. There’s a club called [the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society] and you will see them fighting with foam swords around campus, which can be kind of funny to see. I’m a nerd and I’m big into nerdy memes, and when I came here I started mentioning all of these nerdy memes and everybody understood it, whereas in high school people had no idea what I was saying. It was a nice surprise when I came here and people were just like me and were nerds and geeks.

Careers

Has the alumni network helped you find internships or jobs?
I haven’t reached out to the alumni network specifically, but I had a professor bring in an alum to talk about his career after graduating with a Physics degree.
What have you used the career office for? How helpful are they?
We have a career fair every semester where you write your major down on a piece of paper and your name and go around and talk to companies and drop off your resume. It was nice to see what kind of jobs you can do with geophysics. I haven’t been to the career office yet, I usually just talk to a professor and ask them and they’ll tell me where to go.
Have you learned any computer languages or software that will be helpful to you professionally?
This semester I’m in a class where we’re learning a bunch of languages, it’s quite intense. Right now, I’m learning Python, JavaScript, VI, VIM, and MATLAB. I’ve also learned ArcGIS.

Financial Aid

Have you used financial aid? If so, how easy is the office to work with?
I have financial aid. They’re pretty easy to work with. They definitely help you out with getting to know what a student loan is and stuff like that.