To complete your application, ask your college/university to send us your official transcript electronically or by email to admissions@mines.edu or upload an unofficial college transcript via the Supplemental Materials section of your Applicant Portal. 

Credential Evaluations

All students who have attended a university outside of the U.S. are also required to submit a credential evaluation to complete their application. A credential evaluation is a comparison of your academic record to standards in the U.S., a verification of validity and a translation of your grades to the U.S.-style system. Please view the following information for a list of exceptions and a detailed explanation of what is needed and how to obtain an evaluation.

Other details:

• All international transcripts must be accompanied by a certified English translation and course-by-course (aka document-by-document) credential evaluation. The cost for an evaluation ranges from about $160-200 USD.
• The preferred evaluation agencies are:
  • Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE),
  • World Education Services (WES) 
  • SpanTran (use this link to obtain our partner discount), and
  • International Education Research Foundation (IERF) 
  • but you may use any National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) member that performs course-by-course credential evaluations. Remember to designate Mines as a copy recipient of your evaluation.
• After the evaluation agency completes your evaluation, it will be sent to us electronically.

For questions, please email admissions@mines.edu.

We prefer transcripts to be sent to us electronically, but if you need to use a postal mail service, our address is:

Colorado School of Mines

Undergraduate Admissions

1812 Illinois St. Golden, CO 80401

International applicants whose native language is not English (identified by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Public Affairs) must provide evidence of English language proficiency if they are accepted and decide to enroll at Mines. U.S. Permanent Residents are exempt from this requirement. The English proficiency requirement may be fulfilled by meeting one of the following:

TOEFL

Colorado School of Mines institution code: 4073. Students whose native language is not English must submit acceptable TOEFL scores as part of the application process. Mines requires a minimum score of  79 Internet-based test with minimum section scores as shown below. Tests must have been taken within the past two years to be accepted. If you have multiple valid TOEFL tests, we will superscore your section scores if necessary.

Duolingo English Test

The Duolingo English Test is an acceptable test of English proficiency. A minimum overall score of 105, with no subscore below 100 is required for all applicants.

Cambridge English

Cambridge English B2 First, C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency exams with a minimum score of 176, with no skill below 169.

Exceptions

• Applicants who have completed their junior and senior years in a U.S. high school within two years with an SAT ERW score of at least 550 or an ACT English score of at least 23.
• Applicants who have completed four years of high school in a U.S. high school and have graduated within two years.
• Applicants holding a Bachelor’s degree or who have completed a minimum of 30 transferable semester credits including 3 credits of freshman English composition at a college or university in one of the English-speaking countries listed in the chart below within the last two years.
• You are a citizen of one of the following English-speaking countries:
  

  ANTIGUA and BARBUDA	NEW ZEALAND
  AUSTRALIA	NIGERIA
  BAHAMAS	NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS
  BELIZE	PHILIPPINES
  BOTSWANA	SAMOA
  CANADA	SOUTH AFRICA
  GHANA	TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
  IRELAND	UGANDA
  JAMAICA	UNITED KINGDOM
  LIBERIA	UNITED STATES
  MAURITIUS	ZAMBIA

   

In order to determine if your international credits will transfer to Mines, you must first apply and be admitted to Mines. Once admitted, please submit all syllabi (aka course descriptions) from all courses taken internationally and they will be reviewed with your credential evaluation for credit transfer. 

A couple of general guidelines:

• Check to see if your school is recognized by your country’s Ministry of Education (or the appropriate government agency) or a U.S. accrediting agency. The school must be well recognized in order for us to accept any credit. 
• You must also be enrolled in a university-level academic degree program comparable to a U.S. Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree. Terminal vocational or technical programs are often not transferable to Mines even if taken at recognized institutions. 
• Determine if your courses are similar to any of the ones offered at Mines. We will only consider transfer credit for courses that are similar to those offered at Mines. You can obtain descriptions of Mines courses in our catalog, If you cannot find a comparable course at Mines, then look in the catalogs of the other Colorado campuses. A course may also be transferable if it is offered somewhere in the Colorado system but most likely will only be for free elective credit. 
• Remedial academic subjects, such as English taught as a second language and high school level math, are not transferable. 

Whether or not you believe your coursework will be transferable, you will be required to report ALL college and university coursework undertaken in your application. No final decisions on transfer credit will be made until you officially apply and enroll at Mines.

Transfer credit is considered for students who have taken the GCE or Hong Kong Advanced Level Examinations and earned grades of “C” or higher. Mines does not routinely award transfer credit for the German Abitur, the Swiss Federal Maturity Certificate, the Italian Maturita, or the French Baccalaureate. If you completed GCE A-level or the HKALE, you must report your scores in your application. If you did not receive “C” grades please report your exam scores anyway. Poor A-level/HKALE scores will not be counted against you as a transfer student.

For more information on transferable AP, IB or A-level credit.

The information in this section is intended to supplement admission requirements for first-year and transfers, not replace them.

13-Year Educational Systems 

If pre-university education is 13 years long in your country, you must complete all 13 years before entering Mines. You must graduate from secondary school in your country earning a certificate of completion that enables you to attend a university in your country. Admission to Mines is not offered prior to completion of the 13th year. 

British System and Singapore

You must complete at least 5 IGCSE/GCSE/GCE O Levels, and at least 3 GCE A Levels to be considered for admission. AS levels will also be considered. If you receive A, B or C grades on your GCE A level examinations, Mines may consider granting you transfer credit toward your bachelor’s degree. The exact credit amount will be determined after you have been formally admitted and provide your official certificate. 

India and Pakistan

You must complete your standard XII years of education and sit for 10th and 12th year board/state examinations. 

International Schools

Your international school must have an appropriate level of recognition in the educational system it follows. You must also be earning a certificate of completion that will allow you to enter a university in that educational system. If your international school follows a U.S. curriculum, your school must have U.S. accreditation and you must graduate with a U.S. high school diploma or an equivalent credential. 

International Baccalaureate

If you are completing your IB diploma or simply taking some IB courses, make sure to report your IB status in your application.  

Malaysia

You must complete your SPM and STPM or A Levels to be considered for admission. 

Sri Lanka

You must complete Sri Lankan GCE O and A Levels. You may also complete O and A Levels through a British Examination Authority. 

New Zealand

You must complete Form 7 earning your Higher School Certificate. If you will be receiving a Bursary or NCEA Level 3, please indicate this in your application.

If you wish, you may submit a personal statement essay with your application to explain special circumstances in your life that have affected you or your education. Use the Personal Statement section of the online application to submit your essay, or after 24 hours, you will receive a link to your Applicant Portal where you can also upload an essay.

Letters of recommendation are not required for admission to Mines as an undergraduate but can be included in support of your application for admission. If you want to add a letter of recommendation to your application, we recommend the letter be submitted by an academic reference (teacher or counselor), be no longer than one page, and be emailed directly to admissions@mines.edu. 

Most international students will pay non-resident tuition and fees. Please see the Non-Resident section of the Financial Aid website here: https://finaid.mines.edu/cost-of-attendance-undergraduate/ for information on the cost of attendance.

International students in the following categories cannot qualify for in-state tuition: F-1, F-2, H-3, H-4 (if the visa holder is the spouse or child of an H-3), J-1, and J-2 (if the J-1 visa holder is a student or trainee), M-1 and M-2. 

If you are a refugee, an asylee, or an international student and hold a visa type different than one listed above, you may be eligible for in-state tuition after one year of Colorado residence and should contact the admissions office to learn more about how to petition for in-state/resident tuition. 

Providing proof of financial resources is only required if you are admitted to Mines. You do not need to provide financial documents during the first part of the application process. If you are offered admission, you will work with the International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) office to submit your financial documents. According to U.S. government regulations, all applicants who need a student visa to study in the U.S. must demonstrate they have sufficient funds to pay for tuition costs and living expenses while at Mines. Students demonstrate sufficient funds by submitting a bank statement, certificate of balance, scholarship letter or any combination of the three. Financial documents must have been prepared within the last 6 months. Students must also complete and sign the Statement of Support. The ISSS office, not Admissions, processes all financial documentation for immigration purposes. Please contact the ISSS office with any questions.

You are required to report your junior/community college or diploma program courses along with all other post secondary coursework in your application. However, Mines generally does not transfer credit from junior/community college programs that are technical or vocational in nature, or that do not lead on to further academic study at a university. Usually, coursework from Japanese and Malaysian junior colleges does not transfer. Limited transfer credit may be considered for Indian engineering diploma programs when students have continued their education in a bachelor’s degree program. Applicants usually are not able to transfer directly from Indian diploma programs to Mines.

Please visit the Global Education Office website and click on the drop down menu titled, “Which visa is right for me?”  You will also be able to learn more information on F-1 visas on this page. For more information on J-1 visas, click here.