<p>Well for one, I was pretty sick of the Northeast and kind of wanted to escape lol. I was pretty intimidated by the distance as well (I'm from CT, lived in the same town my entire life) because I would definitely consider myself a homebody. I was worried that I would miss my family a lot, but to be honest, I haven't felt the slightest bit homesick here because I'm having such a great time. </p>
<p>One thing I loved about the students at CC was that they come from all over the country. At Wheaton and Conn, the vast majority of the students are from New England. Since I had lived in New England my entire life, I was definitely ready to branch out and meet kids that come from different places. While ethnic diversity is certainly lacking (though that's how it is at every expensive, private LAC), the geographic diversity is great. Just in my hall, there are kids from Connecticut, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, California, Texas, New York, Oregon, Wyoming, Michigan, Minnesota, and Washington. Here's a quote from a thread on the CC board about the student body:</p>
<p>"I think one of the enat things about CC is that people choose to go there because of the block plan, location, and underlying uniqueness. For those reasons you get a student body based on the values of the school, not the value name recognition places on it. Try and attend one of their fall open houses if you can, and you'll see what I mean. When I went last fall there wasn't a person there, whether student or staff, who didn't seem genuinely happy about where they were. Good luck to you."</p>
<p>I'm not sure how much you know about CC, so you may already be aware of this, but they don't run on a traditional semester system. Instead, they run on what's called the block plan, where students take one course at a time, with each course lasting 3 1/2 weeks. At the end of every block, we get a 5 day block break to chill out, go camping, go skiing etc. I'm planning on going on a backpacking trip for my first block break! The block plan is definitely not appealing to everyone, so do a bit of research and find out if it seems right for you. I personally love it, I definitely don't feel as scattered as I did in high school. </p>
<p>I'm currently in a chemistry class, which generally runs from 9-12 Monday - Friday (or 9-11:30, it kind of depends) and then we have lab twice a week from 1-3ish. This past Friday, my professor decided to let our class out around 11:15, but two of my classmates and I felt we hadn't completely grapsed the concept of what we had been talking about in class, so we decided to stay after and talk to the professor a bit more. We ended up spending almost the entire afternoon with him working on and discussing this one particular concept. I feel that without the block plan, instead of having the time to stay after and talk with the professor, I would have had to run to another class, and would have been left to try and work the concept out on my own. </p>
<p>I've only been here for about three weeks, but CC has been so amazing for me already. I just feel that the opportunities here are so unique. For example, for orientation, almost every freshman participates in a community service trip in the southwest. I went to a wildland preservation in New Mexico and planted trees with eight other people, some of my friends went to a horse rescue shelter, others worked in museums and other urban areas, and others went backpacking. It really was an amazing exeperience and a wonderful way to get to know people. Much better than the traditional "ice breaker" activities. </p>
<p>Okay, I really should stop rambling since I have to go to a study session with my class, but you should definitely consider looking at CC. Your stats are definitely competitive, the question is, do you feel it would be a good fit for you? That's the question it ultimately came down to for me, and after taking one more look at CC, Conn, and Wheaton in April, I decided CC was truely where I wanted to be, and I haven't looked back. </p>
<p>Please feel free to ask more questions and I will gladly answer them to the best of my abilities! Best of luck!</p>