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Public · Suburban campus · founded 1874 · full profile

Colorado School of Mines

Students committed to engineering or applied earth and energy science who want elite earnings outcomes, a small campus, and mountain access — and who do not need academic breadth.

CompareOfficial site
Golden, Colorado6,155 undergraduatesMean consensus percentile 17STEM-focusedHigh ROISmall enrollment

The short answer

Colorado School of Mines produces median earnings of $97,335 ten years after entry — among the highest of any college profiled here — from a 6,155-student public engineering school that admits 60.7% of applicants. Its mining, petroleum and geological engineering programs are ranked #1 in the world.

The six numbers that matter most

Acceptance rate
60.7%

Below the dataset median of 76%

U.S. Dept. of Education College ScorecardMost recent reported entering class, College Scorecard June 2026 release

Average net price
$28,690

55% below the $63,355 published price

U.S. Dept. of Education College ScorecardAverage for full-time first-time aid recipients, College Scorecard June 2026 release

Median earnings, 10 yrs
$97,335

Above the dataset median of $54,053

U.S. Dept. of Education College ScorecardMedian earnings 10 years after entry, working and not enrolled, College Scorecard June 2026 release

6-year graduation rate
81.7%

Above the dataset median of 56%

U.S. Dept. of Education College ScorecardMost recent six-year cohort, College Scorecard June 2026 release

Median debt at graduation
$23,000

About the dataset median

U.S. Dept. of Education College ScorecardMedian federal loan debt of completers, College Scorecard June 2026 release

SAT middle 50%
1320–1480

U.S. Dept. of Education College ScorecardSum of reported reading and math section percentiles for the most recent entering class, College Scorecard June 2026 release. Section percentiles added together approximate, but do not exactly equal, the composite score range.

Where Mines ranks, and why the answers differ

Each publisher's position, the list it belongs to, and how many institutions it was drawn from.

SourceListRank
US News2026National Universities#80of 436National universities
Forbes2026America's Top Colleges#127of 500Top colleges (Forbes)
Washington Monthly2026Best Colleges for Your Tuition (and Tax) DollarsNot ranked by this source
WSJ2026Best Colleges in the U.S.#104of 500U.S. colleges (WSJ)
Niche2026Best Colleges (Overall)A#116of 2,605Overall (Niche)
Money2026Best Value Colleges4.5 starsListedBest value (Money)
Princeton Review2026Best Colleges (Overall)Not ranked by this source
QS2026World University RankingsNot ranked by this source

Methodology sensitivity: Mines's position moves 21 percentile points depending on which published list you read. That is a wide spread, so which list you consult substantially changes the impression you get. How we compute this

Ranking positions are the editorial property of their publishers and are reproduced here with attribution for comparison and commentary. Follow each source link for its full list and methodology.

About Mines

Mines is the strongest argument in American higher education for looking past prestige rankings. It sits around #80 on U.S. News, which weights reputation heavily, but #36 on the WSJ list, which measures value added — and its median earnings of $97,335 sit close to the top of this dataset, ahead of several far more selective private universities. The mechanism is simple: it graduates almost exclusively engineers into high-paying resource, energy and technology sectors.

Its specialist programs are world-leading rather than merely good. Mining engineering, petroleum engineering and geological engineering are ranked first globally, and metallurgical and materials engineering is similarly elite. The Earth, energy and environment focus has broadened in recent years into critical minerals, geothermal, carbon capture and space resources, which repositions the school for the energy transition rather than against it.

This is also a narrow institution and prospective students should take that seriously. There is no meaningful path here for a student interested in the humanities, business or the arts, the workload is heavy, and the 82% six-year graduation rate reflects real attrition. Golden, Colorado is a small town fifteen miles from Denver with immediate access to the Rockies, which is a significant draw for the outdoor-oriented students the school attracts.

Strengths and honest considerations

Strengths

  • Median earnings of $97,335 — among the highest of any college profiled here.
  • #1 world ranking in mining, petroleum and geological engineering.
  • A 60.7% acceptance rate with elite engineering outcomes: an unusual combination.
  • 5,600 undergraduates means small classes and direct faculty research access.

Considerations

  • Very narrow academic scope; almost no humanities, business or arts pathway.
  • 82% six-year graduation rate reflects genuine attrition under a heavy workload.
  • Out-of-state tuition of $45,824 erodes the public-school price advantage.

Who this school genuinely fits

Students committed to engineering or applied earth and energy science who want elite earnings outcomes, a small campus, and mountain access — and who do not need academic breadth.

What it costs

Published price, then what families actually pay after grants and scholarships.

In-state tuition & fees
$21,914

U.S. Dept. of Education College ScorecardMost recent reported academic year, College Scorecard June 2026 release

Out-of-state tuition & fees
$45,824

U.S. Dept. of Education College ScorecardMost recent reported academic year, College Scorecard June 2026 release

Room & board
$17,531

U.S. Dept. of Education College ScorecardMost recent reported academic year, College Scorecard June 2026 release

Published cost of attendance comes to roughly $63,355 a year, but the average family pays $28,690 — a 55% difference. 13.6% of undergraduates receive Pell grants, the federal marker of low family income.

Net price varies enormously by income band, so run Mines's net price calculator for your own household before drawing conclusions. Why net price is the only cost number that matters.

Programs and academics

Most popular majors

  1. 1Mechanical Engineering
  2. 2Petroleum Engineering
  3. 3Computer Science
  4. 4Chemical Engineering
  5. 5Geological Engineering

Standout programs

  • Mining Engineering
  • Petroleum Engineering
  • Geological Engineering
  • Metallurgical & Materials Engineering
  • Earth Observation & Space
Student-faculty ratio
17:1

IPEDS / National Center for Education StatisticsIPEDS 2023 fall enrollment

First-year retention
92.8%

U.S. Dept. of Education College ScorecardMost recent first-year cohort, College Scorecard June 2026 release

Undergraduate enrollment
6,155

U.S. Dept. of Education College ScorecardMost recent reported year, College Scorecard June 2026 release

Mines: questions families ask

Two reasons. First, almost every graduate is an engineer, and the school has no low-earning majors to pull the median down. Second, its specialties — petroleum, mining, geological and metallurgical engineering — feed directly into resource and energy industries that pay unusually well at entry. Median earnings of $97,335 ten years after entry are among the highest of any college profiled here.

Admission is moderately selective at 60.7%, with a middle-50% SAT range of 1320–1480. Staying in is the harder part: the six-year graduation rate is 82%, and the curriculum is demanding from the first semester. Applicants should arrive with strong calculus and physics preparation.

Similar colleges

Matched on institutional character, overlapping majors and comparable cross-source standing.

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

San Luis Obispo, CAPublic

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has held the #1 spot among regional universities in the West for decades, built on a 'Learn by Doing' curriculum where lab and project work is required from the first year. In-state tuition runs $13,596 against median earnings of $90,768, and its architecture program is among the best in the country.

Acceptance rate
31.3%
Average net price
$16,665
Median earnings (10 yr)
$90,768
6-yr graduation rate
86.4%
US News · Regional univ. (West)#1 of 118Forbes · Top colleges (Forbes)#55 of 500WSJ · U.S. colleges (WSJ)#48 of 500+2 more on profile

21,996 undergraduates · mean consensus percentile 6 (across ranked lists; lower is better)

Purdue University

West Lafayette, INPublic

Purdue has frozen tuition since 2012, holding in-state cost at $9,992 for more than a decade while ranking #46 nationally and top-10 for engineering. It graduates more astronauts than any other institution outside the service academies, and at a 49.9% acceptance rate it is meaningfully attainable — rare among schools with these engineering outcomes.

Acceptance rate
49.9%
Average net price
$14,600
Median earnings (10 yr)
$72,424
6-yr graduation rate
83.1%
US News · National universities#46 of 436Forbes · Top colleges (Forbes)#62 of 500Washington Monthly · National universities#44 of 442+3 more on profile

44,503 undergraduates · mean consensus percentile 11 (across ranked lists; lower is better)

Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, GAPublic

Georgia Tech delivers private-university engineering outcomes at public tuition: median earnings of $102,772 ten years after entry against in-state tuition of $12,058. Its Industrial & Systems Engineering program has been ranked #1 in the country for three decades, and the co-op program places students in paid, multi-semester industry rotations.

Acceptance rate
14.1%
Average net price
$12,116
Median earnings (10 yr)
$102,772
6-yr graduation rate
94.0%
US News · National universities#32 of 436Forbes · Top colleges (Forbes)#32 of 500Washington Monthly · National universities#21 of 442+3 more on profile

18,785 undergraduates · mean consensus percentile 5 (across ranked lists; lower is better)

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