South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

Commonly known as ‘Mines’ or ‘Tech’, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology is a higher learning institution in Rapid City, the second largest city in the state. Founded in 1885, the motto of Mines is ‘invent tomorrow’.

For graduate jobs, study at Mines can is considered on of the best returns on investment of education dollars in the United States, with a starting salary upon leaving Mines averaging over $63,000 (which is more than Harvard, at a quarter of the cost of tuition).

All undergraduate students at Mines will select from one of the sixteen engineering and science disciplines available, combining their specialist field of study with courses taught from a core curriculum of arts, humanities and social sciences. Internships are actively encouraged at Mines, and three quarters of students will have work placements during their studies, and 15% will undertake paid research work. Through an established agreement with Harvard Business School, students at Mines can also earn the HBX Credential of Readiness (CORe).

The Museum of Geology on campus is open to both students and the public, and contains a wide array of rare fossils and exhibitions of palaeontology and mineralogy. In 2009 a new Palaeontology Research Laboratory was opened at the museum.

Alumni of Mines include the first Arab American US senator James Abourezk, Norwegian Secretary of Defence Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen, CEO of Shell Oil Frank Richardson, and Dean Peterson, inventor of the Kodak Instamatic camera. 

Athletics teams at Mines are known as the Hardrockers, and compete with mascot Grubby the Miner. There are six men’s sports programmes and six women’s, with teams competing in the NCAA Division II. The O’Harra Stadium at Mines exhibits American Football and Track and Field, and can seat up to 4,000.