Jeffco Public Schools officials and students express support for the new program guaranteeing admission to Mines for Jeffco students who meet specific requirements. Currently about 150 new Jeffco students enroll at Mines each year.

The test-optional change allowed Mines to signal to students that admissions offices want to know more about the whole student, not just a test, said Jen Gagne, interim executive director of admissions. She added that she wants students to know that ....

“Our surveys find that almost half of Mines students have an interest in teaching,” said Wendy Adams, director of the Teach@Mines program. “Not all of those people, of course, are going to pursue it, but they’re interested and so we just need to give ....

A new partnership at the state’s community colleges aims to make it easier for students to transfer to the Colorado School of Mines, the state’s most selective public four-year university, by aligning academic requirements and classwork.

Dale Gaubatz, who heads Mines’ admissions office, said colleges and universities have had test requirements for decades, but the number of underrepresented students hasn’t changed much.