The School of Mines has an interesting tradition for those new students every year on the Friday before Fall classes begin.
Students climb Mount Zion in Golden, carrying 10-pound rocks from their hometowns and add their rocks to the "M" on the mountain. It is called the "M Climb". This tradition begin in 1908 and back then faculty members and a team of burros helped with the short hike up Mt. Zion.
This tradition was held August 16th this year, and temperatures were so hot, some students experienced heat issues.
This year, this climb included -
1,774 new first-year and transfer students
516 women
538 students from underrepresented domestic ethnic or racial groups
18 percent first-generation college students
3 percent international students
3.88 median high school GPA (on an unweighted 4.0 scale)
1400 median SAT composite score
32 median ACT score
49 states represented
21 countries represented
Top 3 U.S. states outside Colorado: Texas, California and Washington
Top 3 countries outside U.S.: Saudi Arabia, Oman and China
The School of Mines is a public research university focused on applied science and engineering.