Any CSM Grads here?

[RancidSumo]

I have pretty well decided on going to Colorado School of Mines this spring and was wondering if anyone here has attended school there? If so, what was it like? Did you enjoy the town/school/professors? Is there anything I should be aware of before I get there?

Thanks for any input you may have.

[Left Sig]

I had a boss who went there when I worked at FoMoCo. She was the worst boss I've ever had - passive aggressive and not very technically capable. Sorry I can't help more.

[NickB]

Enjoy 4 years of a 90% male student body, with 90% of the female students being sub-par. Not sure on exact numbers here, but it's close. Plan on spending a LOT of time in Denver and Boulder trying to pick up girls...it's not good.

[Submariner]

Enjoy 4 years of a 90% male student body, with 90% of the female students being sub-par. Not sure on exact numbers here, but it's close. Plan on spending a LOT of time in Denver and Boulder trying to pick up girls...it's not good.

Probably not an issue here. He talked about going to USNA a few months ago. The demographics are similar.

[montanadave]

I attended CSM back in the late seventies and washed out after my freshman year (too much partying). At that time, CSM was a very insular academic environment with a reputation for turning out top-notch engineers with little or no education beyond their area of speciality. Virtually zero women and everyone was packing a HP handheld in a hip holster. I couldn't get out of there fast enough--in fact, I didn't return from spring break until finals week (which may have contributed to my lest than stellar academic performance )

With that said, I didn't have the maturity at that age to buckle down and do the work required from CSM. And it is my understanding that CSM, along with many of the other finer engineering schools in the country, have come to the realization that turning out great engineers who are so one-dimensional in their academic training that they are incapable of interacting in a broader social context was handicapping their students. Thus, they have adopted curriculums which, while retaining the core engineering programs, incorporate a broader spectrum of academic coursework to produce more well rounded graduates.

I hope the OP can receive some feedback from current students or recent graduates from CSM as my experiences are now ancient history. Regardless, CSM still retains a fine reputation in the mineral engineering community.

As for girls, CU (an extremely "target rich" environment) is just up the road. I can only assume the Coors brewery still has a hospitality room. Coors used to have a courtesy van that picked up folks right in front of the admin building on the CSM campus (a mixed blessing in my case). And learn to appreciate dust as the wind blows down Clear Creek Canyon incessantly and everything in my dorm room was permanently coated with a fine powder (and it was NOT Peruvian marching powder).

[Palmguy]

There was a guy I was in OCS with who was a CSM grad...sub nuke designator; and he definitely fit the stereotype we had for sub nuke guys for what it's worth.

[Left Sig]

Personally I would avoid all-engineering schools like the plague, except for MIT.

In Indiana we have Rose-Hulman, the top rated undergrad engineering program among schools without doctoral programs. They turn out Engineers similar to the stereotype of CSM described above.

I've worked at or around some of the largest engineering-oriented companies in the country, and no one ever says much of anything about CSM. It's basically not even given much thought.

Engineering schools that are well respected are: MIT, U Michigan, U of Illinois, Purdue, Stanford, U Texas, Texas A&M, Ohio State, various U California schools, and the like.

[Fly'nBuff]

Enjoy 4 years of a 90% male student body, with 90% of the female students being sub-par. Not sure on exact numbers here, but it's close. Plan on spending a LOT of time in Denver and Boulder trying to pick up girls...it's not good.

I couldn't have said it any better.

[M4Fundi]

If you want to go to a good engineering school that is respected, fun, hot girls, gun friendly and has an esprit de corps like no other go to Texas A&M.

[thopkins22]

Have you been accepted to CSM? If so congratulations...I know a few smart people who were denied admission.

If you want to go to a good engineering school that is respected, fun, hot girls, gun friendly and has an esprit de corps like no other go to Texas A&M.

And if you're a chemical/petroleum kinda guy, you couldn't ask for better networking.