My daughter is trying to decide between these two colleges (Pitzer and Colorado college) and we are looking for feedback that might be helpful with the decision making process. For example how are the students different at each campus and how are the academics different?
I don’t know anything about Pitzer, but D2 was accepted to CC did a couple of overnights there, and two of her classmates (one was her 3- year lab partner who she still keeps in contact with) went there.
The most striking difference is that CC runs all its classes on the block system. Students take 1 class at a time. A class lasts 4 weeks. Each class meets 5x/week for 4 hours in the morning. Science labs are held in the afternoons and are 3-4 hours 3-4 days/week. Courses are short but very intense.
CC students tend to be outdoorsy (hiking, skiing, biking) and laid back for the most part. During ski season, student groups charter buses to go up to the ski resorts outside of Denver during Block Breaks. Ice hockey is the big on-campus sport. (With a huge rivalry with the nearby Air Force Academy.)
Congrats to your D, both are such great options and definitely very different. With Pitzer you obviously get the benefit of the 5 college consortium… as far as I am concerned that is truly a unique set up. And pretty fantastic. At CC you get the block plan and opportunity for an immersive education unlike any other LAC in the country. At CC You’re in the Rocky Mountains as opposed to southern CA. So location/regional vibe is definitely very different.
What is your D’s intended major, and is there a significant price difference between the two schools? Is she one to lean heavily toward outdoor rec opportunity, would she love the opportunity block breaks provide exploring the rocky mountain west? Would she rather be in a bigger consortium than an LAC that has only 2000 students?
In terms of student body- CC is pretty broad spectrum with many students who are definitely drawn to the outdoor opportunities the location provides. Pitzer seems to me perhaps a little more socially activist but there is definitely a palpable presence of that expression at CC as well.
I totally get the appeal of both schools. My own D18 has both schools on her radar, she sees a similar vibe on both campuses. In the end maybe it comes down to consortium vs block plan and location. Luckily I don’t think your D can go wrong with either school!
My D17 is going to attend Colorado College starting in the fall, and it can’t come soon enough, she’s so excited. Since the two schools are fantastic in strikingly different ways, it’s hard to say which one is better for your senior without knowing what she’s looking for. Pitzer and the Claremonts are far enough inland (we live in Los Angeles) that it gets very toasty, whereas Colorado Springs, which gets cold, doesn’t get quite as frigid as you might expect. What is she interested in majoring in?
Colorado Springs gets VERY hot in the summer. I know most of the school year doesn’t take place in the summer, but June and September can have the outlier day too. There are a few days a year, sometimes a full week, when the winter weather will get to you, but it’s usually fairly nice.
Sorry, but CS doesn’t get very hot in the summer; if anything, it’s the other way around. It’s Pitzer that you’d need to worry if the summer weather is of any concern. Because CS is located 6,200ft in elevation, you might be confused with the summer weather being very hot with very “intense.” In fact, most of the houses in CS don’t even have the air conditioning. Open windows in summer, that’s it.
I don’t know whether the global warming has anything to do with it, but the trend in CS winters has been getting milder each year with a burst of snow storm once or twice. CS boasts about 330 sunny days a year, so whatever the snow dump you get, it pretty much all melts away by the next day.
One thing to keep in mind about CC is that you’d need a car if you want to go anywhere. The nearby downtown is in walking distance and biking isn’t a great option in that part of the town. You’d have to rely mostly on the I-25 to get to any site of attraction, even for hiking and such outdoors activities.
“Colorado Springs gets VERY hot in the summer.” - By temperature, yes. But I’ve rarely felt as hot in the Colorado dry climate (which often has a breeze too, at least in my part of CO) as I did back in upstate NY. I did have weather concerns (pollution/inversion days) for DS when he was considering Harvey Mudd, but it is probably only relevant a few times a year.
I definitely liked the 5 college consortium for Pitzer. But the one-course-at-a-time at CC is quite appealing to some students. (I think it has pros/cons).
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned here is that Pitzer has a reputation of having a focus on social science. Presumably the OP’s D was somewhat interested in that? I have nothing insightful to add about the students at each school although I hope to understand more about CC in the future as my D is starting there this fall. She was adamant about getting out of California so didn’t consider any of the Claremont schools.