Colorado School of Mines
Responses from the Student Interview
From a student who identifies as Major: I haven’t declared yet, but I’m thinking I want to go into Chemical Engineering
Minor: I haven’t declared yet, but I’m thinking I want to minor in Biomedical Engineering
Student Self Identifies as: Caucasian Heterosexual Female
Summary
I’m a part of the Caving Club and iGEM, which is a biological engineering club that we compete with.
Background
Gender Identity: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
High School Experience: Public high school in Idaho Springs, CO with a graduating class of about 60 students. A little more than half of the students went to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: I haven’t declared yet, but I’m thinking I want to go into Chemical Engineering
Minor: I haven’t declared yet, but I’m thinking I want to minor in Biomedical Engineering
Extracurricular Activities: I’m a part of the Caving Club and iGEM, which is a biological engineering club that we compete with.
Have any of your extracurriculars had a particularly big impact on your experience?
Caving club is a unique thing that I don’t think a lot of other colleges have. It’s super fun. We get to learn about caves and go spelunking and caving throughout caves in Colorado. I never caved before this and the first week there was a club fair and I walked over and then two days later I was in a cave.
Academic Experience
Can you describe your weekly coursework for your major?
It’s a lot of work. For all of the Chemistry classes, you usually have a lab to go along with it. My weekly class schedule this semester is Physics 1, Chemistry 2, Calculus 2, and a class called Ideas which is a mix of design and ethics. I have one lab for Chemistry, which is a lot of homework and we usually have a worksheet or online homework. I have a weekly homework assignment for Physics that is usually pretty hard. Then for Ideas, we are working on a design project, so I have to meet with a team and work on that with them.
Is there anything you feel that Colorado School of Mines does especially well or poorly academically?
What I like is there is always someone able to help you. They have plenty of office hours, plenty of TA hours, and so many resources to use if you’re struggling in a class. So far, I haven’t found anything I don’t necessarily like.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
In my experience so far, it’s extremely collaborative. I’ve had no competition with anybody and in the best way. Nobody tries to push you out. There are problems in every class that everybody struggles with. We have a group chat for the floor of the dorm that I’m living in and every once in a while we’ll get a text that says, “Ok, group meet up for problem five for Chemistry 1” and we’ll all get together and work on it.
How accessible are your professors?
My professors are really accessible. That depends on your schedule as well because you can have a schedule that conflicts with every office hours [session], but if that happens, you can email professors and they’ll either stay around after class with or your meet at a time that works for you.
What has been your favorite part of Colorado School of Mines academically?
My favorite part is they don’t have you just regurgitating information. They tell something, tell you how it’s derived and it’s application, and then the homework problems are problem-solving where you have to manipulate the equations they give you. It’s fun because it’s not busywork. I have to be thinking through the whole homework session, I can’t just space out and do it which I really like.
How was transitioning academically as a freshman? Were there any resources in place that helped you adapt?
I had a pretty easy time in my high school and then transitioning from that to college was really tough. The first few weeks of the first semester were super challenging. I learned that going to office hours was one of the most useful things I can do and I definitely should have gone sooner than I did. After I went, everything made sense to me for the problems that I was stuck on. The hardest part was getting used to the workload, but the professors and the [Center for Academic Services and Advising (CASA)], which is a student help center that has lots of tutoring hours, are helpful.
Why did you choose your major? Are you happy with your choice?
I think I want to major in Chemical Engineering because I think it’s fun because there’s a lot of stuff you can do with chemistry. Chemical engineering, in particular, has a lot of applications in today’s world. I think it’s a useful major.
Reasons to Attend
1) If you want to be challenged. If you like learning and love learning about STEM, definitely attend Mines.
2) If you like the outdoors or winter activities, Golden is a good place to be.
3) If you like working in teams or want more experience in that area, a lot of your classes are working with other people. That also helps a lot with career opportunities because they want you to have team experience. Even if it’s not a class where they force you to work on a team, people usually end up working in teams to get things done.
Reasons Not to Attend
1) I’d be sure you want to do something STEM-related before you attend Mines, because after the first semester we had quite a few people transfer schools just because they found out they weren’t interested in STEM. [Mines has a 92% first-year to sophomore retention rate.]
Around Campus
Where have you lived on and around campus?
Freshman: Elm Hall with two roommates.
How do you like going to school so close to your hometown?
I live less than a half-hour away from Golden, so the transition was pretty easy for me. I like being close to my hometown because I don’t necessarily see my parents all the time and I don’t. If I want to go to the mountains, I can, and if I go skiing or something, I’ll usually stop by my house and say hi. It’s nice to be near them to say hi every once in a while, but it’s also nice because they give me space and let me do what I’m doing.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the safest, I’d say it’s a 9. I feel extremely safe around the people here. The only problem we’ve had so far is sometimes the roads and sidewalks get really icy during the winter. In that sense, that could be better, but around the people I feel safe and in my dorm I always feel fine.
Social Opportunities
What kind of weekend activities or nightlife do you like to participate in?
I go ski a lot, especially now that it’s winter. There’s definitely a fair share of homework as well. I also try to find something to do with my friends or roommates like go on a hike or find some other activity to do. I went to one party and it wasn’t really my scene and didn’t enjoy it too much.
What have been some of your favorite times at Mines so far?
I went a caving trip to New Mexico with a group of four people and we met up with another person down there. That was super fun because went camping for four days and we learned how to survey a cave, which I thought was really interesting. That’s been my favorite experience so far.
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. On a scale of 1-10, I’d say I’m at an 8. If I could change something, I just wish that the restaurants and places in downtown Golden would stay open later. They shut down around 8:00 or 9:00 o’clock, so if you’re hungry later in the day it’s hard to go down there and eat.
Campus Culture
How did you meet your closest friends?
Most of my friends live on my floor. We have social spaces and study spaces on each floor, and we met by either studying together or just talking. At the beginning of the year, one of my roommates was really proactive about getting groups together and going out and doing things, so when I joined with that I met other people.
How would you describe the overall social scene at Colorado School of Mines?
The social scene is about half people who are really social and go out and do things and then half of the people like to stay in their rooms all day. It’s definitely what you make of it. If you’re proactive about getting your homework done and have time to go out and hang out with friends, there are a lot of activities. There are parties and things to do on the weekends and even after classes are done, but if you choose to stay in your room and not meet up with other people to go do activities, I don’t think it’s going to be nearly as fun. Those opportunities won’t present themselves if you don’t seek them out.
To what extent do people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
I think people mix very well. Mines is a really open and accepting environment, so usually, there’s no problem for people to find a group of friends or mix friend groups regardless of sexual identification or race. [The undergraduate population is about 70% White, 10.5% Hispanic, 1% Black, and 4.5% Asian.]
How has the 70:30 Male-Female ratio impacted your experience?
I definitely have a lot more guy friends [laughs]. It’s definitely prevalent here. The people who room next to me are both females, but then nearly everybody else on this side of my building is male, so the gap is definitely there. Females and males hang out regularly and it’s not separate in that sense, there’s just a smaller percentage of them. It’s not a gap that is visible when you’re hanging out with people because not many friend groups consist of only guys or girls. But, if I’m just walking around campus, there are definitely more guys than girls.
How would you describe the student body?
The student body is super helpful. If you go up to anybody and ask them if they can help you out with a problem or with homework, they’ll say yes. Since we’re all STEM students, it makes it really easy to ask somebody because everybody does the same stuff, at least for the gen-ed classes I’m in right now. The personality of everybody is mixed. There is [a common trait] is that everybody here thinks super logically and literally, but there are also people who are very humorous.
To what extent do people in Greek life and not in Greek life mix socially?
They mix really well, actually. I have a lot of friends who are in Greek life and I’m not involved in it at all. People in Greek life tend to be more social, which makes it easier for people to mix with them so there isn’t’ any divide. The Greek life here isn’t as intense as what you see in the movies or think of when you think of a typical college, it’s a lot more laid back.
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 love the size of the undergraduate enrollment. I think it’s great because you’re pretty much forced to live on campus as a freshman, so we walk around and see each other all the time. I always see familiar faces. It’s nice because it makes it so when you’re working with people in class, you can work with those same people in other classes and also make new friends that way. It’s not like you have different people in every single class, there are people that overlap all the time, which makes it easier to meet people and get help.
Careers
What have you used the career office for? How helpful are they?
I went to the career day during the first semester. I went because we were pushed to do it by my freshman seminar class, which I think was really great because it was nice to see what the environment was like. There’s a lot of support as well because we have resume workshops and interview advice from the career office and faculty on campus.
Have you learned any computer languages or software that will be helpful to you professionally?
I know Excel fairly well, but I haven’t done any programming or Computer Science classes yet.
Financial Aid
Have you used financial aid? If so, how easy is the office to work with?
I haven’t had to email them that much. They’re super nice, though. They’re easy to reach out to and there are a lot of resources on the student site at Mines, which isn’t the one that’s open to the public.