Mechanical Engineeringat Colorado School of Mines
Graduates earn $74,145/yr in their first year — about 5.0% above the national Mechanical Engineering average. Base-case 10-year earnings $839K; scenarios range from $716K to $881K depending on AI disruption.
What this degree looks like at Colorado School of Mines
Colorado School of Mines's Mechanical Engineering graduates start at $74,145/yr — above the $70,527 national average, though not by a wide margin.
At 9.9x the cost of in-state tuition, the ten-year earnings outlook represents a strong return. Not exceptional, but meaningfully positive.
AI risk is moderate — 53% task exposure — and the 19% scenario spread suggests disruption would dent but not destroy the earnings outlook.
Loan repayment is a non-issue here — $23,000 in median debt clears quickly against $74,145 in annual earnings.
At #197 out of 320 programs, Colorado School of Mines's financial outcomes for Mechanical Engineering trail the majority of peers. The value case depends on other factors.
The five-year earnings trajectory from $74,145 to $93,871 shows 27% growth, reflecting steady but unremarkable salary progression.
Three scenarios, ten years out
Each scenario is a different assumption about how AI reshapes the career paths this major feeds into. Earnings projections stack the full 10-year cumulative trajectory; scores use the same 0–100 metric as the hero, recomputed under that scenario's assumptions.
10 year projection
Year-by-year earnings under each scenario. Base case reflects BLS growth patterns applied to Colorado School of Mines's starting earnings; optimistic and pessimistic adjust for AI's effect on each career path this major feeds into.
Common career destinations for this program's graduates, weighted by the school's specific occupation mix. Salary is BLS national median; AI risk is per-role task-exposure research.
Peer schools offering Mechanical Engineering
How Colorado School of Mines stacks up against other schools offering this major.
Other top programs at Colorado School of Mines
Other highest-scoring programs offered at Colorado School of Mines, ranked by DegreeOutlook Score.
Frequently asked about Mechanical Engineering at Colorado School of Mines
How does Colorado School of Mines's Mechanical Engineering program score?
A score of 67/100 reflects decent absolute metrics, but Colorado School of Mines trails the majority of Mechanical Engineering programs on relative rankings. Context matters more than the raw number.
How vulnerable is Mechanical Engineering to AI automation?
AI won't 'replace' Mechanical Engineering careers outright, but it is likely to reduce the number of job openings. We model 53% task exposure, which compresses field employment probability in our scenarios.