For students who want to work in the sciences, opportunities abound at the Colorado School of Mines. A public engineering and applied sciences school in Golden, Colorado, Mines has 14 academic departments, including Mechanical Engineering and Geophysics. The school also offers courses in the Liberal Arts & International Studies and Economics & Business departments. When students arent studying, the schools location is ideal for outdoor recreation. Golden is 13 miles from the state capital of Denver and lies in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where students can bike, hike and climb. The campus also has a climbing wall for students to test their skills before attempting the Rockies. Cold-weather sports fans can partake in the annual Winter Carnival, a student-run affair packed with skiing and snowboarding at a local resort. The Mines sports teams, known as the Orediggers, compete in the NCAA Division II Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, which is mostly made up of other teams from Colorado. The school mascot is Blaster the burro, and a giant "M" emblazoned onto nearby Mount Zion signifies the school spirit. There are more than 140 student clubs and organizations, including seven fraternities and three sororities. First-year students are required to live on campus. Even the student newspaper, The Oredigger, is decidedly science based; sections include weekly roundups of new discoveries and a Geek of the Week feature.Research opportunities abound for undergraduate and graduate students at the Renewable Energy Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and the Unconventional Natural Gas and Oil Institute, two on-campus powerhouses for energy innovation. The school campus is also home to a geology museum, where admission is free and students can check out displays from moon rocks to fossilized dinosaur tracks. Mines alumni garner some of the highest-paid starting salaries in the country, and graduates have gone on to excel as engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs. Notable alumni include Andrew Swiger, senior vice president and principal financial officer of ExxonMobil, and Harold M. Korell, executive chairman of the board of Southwestern Energy.

Elon University is located in Elon, N.C., between Greensboro and the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill triangle. With more than 240 clubs and organizations, there are many ways for students to get involved. Every Tuesday, the community hosts College Coffee, a weekly campus tradition during which faculty, staff and students gather for coffee and snacks at the Phi Beta Kappa Commons. Students can work off the extra calories participating in intramural, club or varsity sports. The Phoenix, Elons varsity athletic teams, compete in the NCAA Division I Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). Greek organizations are a significant part of social life on campus, representing about 35% of the student body. All first- and second-year students are required to live on campus in one of the residence halls.Elon is organized into six schools and colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences, Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, School of Communications, School of Education, School of Health Sciences, and School of Law. Undergraduates choose from more nearly 60 majors within a variety of disciplines. Each year, 45 incoming first-year students are admitted into the Honors Program, which offers smaller discussion classes, a motivated academic community, and benefits like study abroad grants and special Honors housing. More than 80% of students at Elon study abroad. The Elon University Poll conducts three polls each semester on issues of importance in and around North Carolina.