How to Write the Colorado School of Mines Essays 2025-2026
Colorado School of Mines has two supplemental essays. Although these supplements are technically optional, we strongly encourage you to respond to them. In a college application, you only have so much space to share information about yourself, so you want to take full advantage of every opportunity to do so.
In addition, not answering prompts—even if they’re optional—can make it look like you don’t have a strong interest in a school, which may weaken your overall application.
Here’s our expert guide to writing the Colorado School of Mines essays so you can boost your application with strong responses.
Read this Colorado School of Mines essay example written by a real student to inspire your writing!
Colorado School of Mines Supplemental Essay Prompts
Prompt 1 (optional): What element on the periodic table best represents you and why? (250 words)
Prompt 2 (optional): Why do you want to be an Oredigger? You can share what you want to study, your future involvement and activities, or anything else about the Mines experience that excites you. (250 words)
Prompt 1 (optional)
What element on the periodic table best represents you and why? (250 words)
This is a creative self-reflection prompt. The admissions committee is testing your self-awareness, creativity, and storytelling ability. How well do you know your strengths, quirks, and values? Can you make an unexpected connection and sustain it? Can you use a metaphor to reveal your personality and depth?
It’s not about chemistry knowledge; it’s about personality chemistry. The element you choose is just the starting point. The real substance is the story you tell around it.
Since this is a unique prompt that you probably haven’t encountered anywhere else yet, you’re going to want to spend some time thinking about your approach rather than just writing immediately. If you have some chemistry knowledge, start with that. Think about certain elements and consider what real-life or symbolic properties they have, then check those against your own attributes. If you don’t have any chemistry domain knowledge, do some research on elements that jump out to you from the Periodic Table.
It may help you to ask yourself these questions:
- Which traits do I want to highlight about myself? (e.g. resilience, curiosity, adaptability, warmth, leadership, etc.)
- What elements have symbolic or real-life properties that match those traits?
- Have I had life experiences that parallel how that element behaves? (e.g., adaptability like Carbon, protective like Neon’s stability, catalytic like Platinum)
- Can I weave in a short, vivid anecdote that illustrates this connection?
- What do I want the reader to feel or understand about me by the end?
One thing to note: You should probably pick a slightly less obvious element to avoid predictable choices like Gold (“precious”), Oxygen (“essential”), or Hydrogen (“number one”) unless you have a highly original spin.
Use the element’s properties as a metaphor—melting points, bonding behavior, reactivity, rarity, or uses in the real world. Anchor your choice in a personal experience. Show moments in your life where you embodied that element’s qualities. End by hinting at how these qualities will influence your role in college and beyond.
Consider these hypothetical student examples:
- Aria chose Carbon – from graphite in pencils to diamond in jewelry, Carbon adapts to form entirely different structures. Aria moved five times before high school and learned to thrive in wildly different communities, finding her “allotropes” in each one.
- Malik chose Sodium – highly reactive on its own, but essential when paired with the right partner (NaCl). Malik channels his energy best in team settings, like leading his robotics team to nationals.
- Sofia chose Phosphorus – glows when struck, just like she lights up when a challenge sparks her curiosity, from science fairs to late-night coding sessions.
Here’s an example response Aria might write:
“If I were an element, I would be carbon. From graphite in pencils to diamonds in jewelry, carbon adapts to form entirely different structures, and I see my own journey reflected in that versatility. I moved five times before high school, each move bringing me into a completely disparate environment—new surroundings, new friends, new challenges. Like carbon, I discovered different ‘allotropes’ of myself in each setting—resilient yet flexible, creative yet structured, finding ways to thrive no matter the circumstances.
In one town, I immersed myself in community theater, learning collaboration and self-expression. In another, I led a volunteer initiative, discovering how to connect with people and create meaningful impact. Each experience strengthened different facets of who I am, just as carbon transforms under different conditions.
Carbon also has the remarkable ability to bond with countless other elements, building structures stronger than itself. I strive to do the same—connecting with people, ideas, and opportunities to create something bigger than my individual efforts. At Colorado School of Mines, I hope to bring this adaptability and resilience to my studies, research, and community, transforming challenges into opportunities and contributing to a network that, like carbon, is stronger together.”
This response works because it ties carbon’s adaptability and bonding to Aria’s life, showing her resilience and versatility through specific experiences. It balances personal reflection with future goals, uses clear, engaging language, and integrates values like collaboration and creativity. The metaphor is consistent and memorable, making the essay both insightful and distinctive.
With this in mind, there are some pitfalls that you should work to avoid. Mainly, don’t just list facts about the element without tying them to you—the connection should feel personal and specific. Similarly, don’t choose an element just for fun without any depth behind it.
Be sure to not overexplain details; one or two well-chosen properties should be more than enough. And finally, don’t forget to show some personality! This is a creative prompt that urges you to reflect on yourself, so use this space to tell the admissions officers about who you are.
Prompt 2 (optional)
Why do you want to be an Oredigger? You can share what you want to study, your future involvement and activities, or anything else about the Mines experience that excites you. (250 words)
This prompt falls into the common “Why This College?” archetype. In asking this Colorado School of Mines wants to know two main things: academic fit and community fit. Why do their specific programs, faculty members, research facilities, or approaches to learning align with your goals? How will you participate in campus life, traditions, and student culture? The goal is to show both what you’ll gain and what you’ll contribute.
Before you begin writing, you should do a fair bit of planning for your essay. Think about which academic programs, labs, or research centers at Mines excite you the most. Also look into their student organizations and extracurricular offerings to see if there’s anything unique to Mines that particularly resonates with you.
Here are a few more questions to ask yourself to generate ideas:
- How do learning approaches (hands-on, interdisciplinary, industry connections) at Mines match my learning style?
- Are there professors whose work aligns with my goals—and do I have a genuine reason for caring about that work?
- How do my long-term career goals connect to the resources and culture at Mines?
- What personal traits or past experiences will help me thrive here and add to this community?
Primarily, you should look to make specific and sincere references to Mines resources (labs, programs, organizations, etc.) with clear personal connections. Integrate a balance of academics and extracurriculars to show a well-rounded vision of life on campus.
As a rule of thumb, about 75% of your essay should focus on tangible reasons for wanting to attend the school and why. These tangible elements should be mostly academically focused, but it’s important to also include some extracurricular elements. The other 25% should focus on intangible reasons (such as campus culture and school values) and why those are important to you as well.
Be sure to explain how Mines will prepare you to achieve your goals. And finally, highlight how you’ll enrich Mines through leadership, service, or collaboration.
Here are some hypothetical student examples to show you different forms this essay could take:
- Noah, an aspiring petroleum engineer, has spent summers working on his uncle’s drilling site, fascinated by reservoir simulations. He’s excited about Mines’ Reservoir Characterization Project and joining the Society of Petroleum Engineers chapter.
- Priya, a renewable energy researcher, built a solar-powered irrigation prototype in high school. She’s drawn to the Renewable Energy Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and the Mines Green Team.
- Miguel, a geophysics enthusiast, fell in love with seismology after mapping local tremors for a science fair. He looks forward to using Mines’ High-Performance Computing cluster and volunteering for outreach with the Geophysics Club.
Here’s an example of how Priya might approach this prompt:
“I want to be an Oredigger because Mines offers the perfect intersection of hands-on engineering, research, and sustainability—three areas that have defined my high school journey. As a high school student, I built a solar-powered irrigation prototype for my community garden, learning how renewable energy could directly improve people’s lives. That experience sparked my passion for developing practical, environmentally conscious technologies, and I’m excited to expand that work at Mines.
I’m particularly drawn to the Renewable Energy Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, where I hope to explore innovative solar materials and battery technologies. The chance to contribute to cutting-edge research while collaborating with peers and professors excites me. It’s exactly the environment where I can combine creativity, problem-solving, and technical rigor.
Outside the lab, I look forward to joining the Mines Green Team and promoting sustainable initiatives on campus. From leading recycling efforts to organizing renewable energy awareness campaigns, I want to help make Mines a model for environmental stewardship.
Being an Oredigger means joining a community that values innovation, collaboration, and impact. At Mines, I hope to push the boundaries of renewable energy research while contributing to a culture of sustainability, learning, and hands-on problem-solving—continuing the work I began in high school and taking it to a level I could never reach on my own.”
Finally, know that there are some common “Why This College?” essay mistakes students often make. First is generic praise—saying “Mines is a great school” or “I love the location” without elaboration is vague and not personal. The same can be said about name-dropping resources or professors without explaining a personal connection.
Also be sure to avoid focusing only on prestige or financial outcomes. Mines wants to see that you care about the experience, not just the diploma. And finally, don’t list things with no narrative—weave details into a cohesive vision of your future at Mines.
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