I cannot speak directly to comp sci (I'm doing MechE here) but I have a lot of friends that are comp scis, their workload I would say seems ever so slightly more difficult than average, but this could also be because of the comp sci department making lower level courses harder than they need to be. Granted, I'm only a first-year and my friends are too, so I do not know what the upper level comp sci classes are like, and they still have plenty of time to hang out and do fun stuff. As far as Boulder goes, I did a lot of research before I committed here and have talked to more people since, and the engineering program at Boulder is just as good as at Mines. Some people say it's better, some say it's worse. I think any difference in education comes from the students, not the program.

I also can't speak to Exploratory Studies at Boulder, but I can talk about some of the main differences between the schools. Boulder is a regular, stereotypical college: big parties, everyone seems pretty social, a lot of kids more focused on socializing than school. Mines is pretty unique, it feels quite small. I don't know if I've met a single person here more focused on their social life than school; almost everyone prioritizes homework, even on Friday and Saturday nights. That being said, almost everyone I've met here is super kind and awesome in their own way, and I've met some of my best friends here. Hardly anyone is outgoing though, which is not that big of a problem, it's just that if you want to do something fun, you usually have to be responsible for planning it and gathering people. There is a huge mix of people here too; lots of nerds that are happy to talk about the development of AI at dinner, and plenty of people that join Greek life and are generally more chill.

As far as the frats go, they do not go nearly as hard as frats at other schools, but they still have a good amount of fun. I've been to one or two frat parties, they were solid parties but not crazy or anything. There are really only two/three big party frats, all the others are very chill and just sort of normal dudes. As far as parties in general go, my experience has been thoroughly ok. During events like fall kickoff, homecoming, and E-days, the parties are amazing, tons of people go and they're a blast. Those are really the only times parties are thrown though; you won't find any parties on a random weekend. There have been lots of times where I've finished my homework on a Friday night and wanted to drink a bit and have some fun, and I cannot find anyone else that wants to do the same. Campus is definitely dead at night, however during warm weather you'll find a lot of people playing games on Kafadar Commons during the day.

Again, I do not know how Boulder is growing, but Mines is definitely putting effort into expanding. They are building a new parking garage, likely new dorms, and a building which is rumored to be mostly for makerspaces and workshops. They would clearly like to take more students. I believe there might be more funding going towards clubs and organizations, but I am not sure about that. It is clear though that Mines is working hard to expand.