The Colorado School of Mines

Date: Dec 31 1969
Major: Chemistry (This Major's Salary over time)
I came in as a graduate student in the department of chemistry with a masters degree and lots of research experience. This was my 3rd school and I have spent close to 9 years in university pursuing various PhDs. The faculty here are incompetent in ways that are beyond comprehension and no one is willing to lend an audience or a helping hand to students on scholarship.

An underlying principle is seen throughout the university,

it's someone else's problem

I have never seen a university's administration operate with such inadequacy and indifference towards students in general. You would be lucky to find one helpful person in forty.

The instrumentation needed to perform basic research is perpetually 'not working' and the people to maintain them are always conveniently absent. I could get research done faster in my parent's garage, with the funds acquired from my minimum wage salary as a dishwasher. Once you write a grant, the university takes so much overhead that it put a financial burden on students on scholarship.

No one I interacted with that was supposedly 'in charge' at the university is concerned with student achievement or academic excellence. Their main concern is to promote their own agendas and keep their menial jobs, as opposed to concentrating on the purpose to help students get through their degree and achieve research goals.

There are many hidden fees and once you pay too much for your overpriced public education, you can thank the registrar for charging you $15/transcript sent. The majority of excess funds does not go to help students or faculty development, it goes to construction companies to pave the school in gold and build new buildings supporting petroleum research.

I would like to say that my interaction with undergraduate students was positive, in that I enjoy teaching very much. As a TA, I noticed the majority of students here relate to each other based on 'i'm more miserable than you so you should respect me'.

The slogan Earth, Energy, and Environment is only a ploy to distract what actually goes on: frustration, overpriced education, and undervalued students. If you enjoy disrespect, incompetence, absentee arrogant professors, and a general population with 'misery is company' mentality then Mines is the university for you.