<p>I’m on my way home from Grinnell and am happy to report that I loved it. ella, if you have the chance to visit, try to do so!</p>
<p>I’m glad you loved it! I really liked it when I visited it in the fall (I just have to get accepted now haha. Fingers crossed).</p>
<p>Does anyone think it’d be possible for CC to up their aid offer to match Grinnell’s? I’m gonna wait, of course, to hear from my other schools, but I’m not sure I want to write it off quite yet, though I am growing accustomed to the idea of going to Grinnell.</p>
<p>I don’t know whether Colorado College has a policy one way or another about matching offers. But why even bother to pursue this unless you’d be fairly inclined to accept a matched offer from CC? If you would be, you could try faxing them Grinnell’s offer, along with any new (or previously missing) information to strengthen your FA case. In other words, make a reasoned argument, not a groundless appeal. Part of your argument probably needs to be that this is your first choice college.</p>
<p>So is the consensus Grinnell over CC?</p>
<p>I think at this point you’ve gotten opinions and perspectives, and it’s now up to you to decide. You’ve got two good schools here.</p>
<p>All right, so it’s a month later and I’ve heard back from all of my schools. Unfortunately, most of my financial aid packages were not large enough for me to afford the schools (Oberlin was #1, then Macalester). So I’m back at the same decision. Grinnell will cost my parents $20k, CC $23k. I haven’t visited CC, they sent me a travel grant, but I originally thought that they decreased my FA significantly so I made no plans to visit and now I am trying to decide if I should just use my own money to pay for airfare and check it out since we can afford it. Can anyone offer any additional insight into the differences b/w these two schools?</p>
<p>Side note: I want to study language(s), and I’m worried that the block plan may not be conducive to this,</p>
<p>Have you contacted CC to see if they’ll re-grant you the travel?</p>
<p>SgtDonut, I write this as a parent of a current Grinnellian. I have only second hand knowledge of CC. </p>
<p>If I were you, I would first speak to someone in the language department at CC to see what the block plan means in this area. Then, if you are satisfied, I would check on the travel grant option.</p>
<p>How important is the Colorado landscape to you? And the outdoor activities there? That to me would be the primary reason for you to give serious consideration to looking further into it over Grinnell, especially if you loved Grinnell when you visited particularly if you felt a fit with the student body.</p>
<p>Believe it or not, the landscape surrounding Grinnell is truly gorgeous, but you would need a bike or a car (but plenty of students on campus have them) to truly experience it. My S bought a bike out there and loves to get out into the wide open spaces and rolling farmlands. I took a drive with him when I visited and it was magnificent. Really. I know there is an outing club at Grinnell, but I cannot speak firsthand about it. I have walked the Conard Environmental Area and that, too, is beautiful. The school uses that for research and classwork as well. </p>
<p>personally, I think the block plan is a risk. You may end up loving it, but i can’t imagine you would find the academic experience at Grinnell to be lacking in any way. I do know that for languages, there are options to sustain skills even if one is not taking a class that semester (conversation tables at lunch, one-credit conversation classes, eg.). might be similar options at CC, I just don’t know. </p>
<p>Grinnell also offers alot of short courses for one or two credits that are really interesting and usually have “real world” application; these are often taught by alumni or others who come in with a particular expertise apart from the professors. It is possible to put together a really interesting academic experience with a range of subjects each and every semester, whether or not you put in some of these short courses. (I was just mentioning them because my S has taken a few and it’s added a great dimension to his education.)</p>
<p>I am sorry that you did not get the FA to enable you to attend your top choice schools, but I think that with the other schools you listed as preferable, Grinnell will be a very happy alternative for you, and I hope that you do not feel that you are settling. The community is a lovely one, both on the campus and in the surrounding town. It may be “in the cornfields” but you will not be bored!</p>
<p>The block plan presents both challenges and opportunities for language learning. One challenge is to avoid too much time passing between blocks devoted to language study while you’re still building a skills foundation. Maybe schedule a block of language study on campus back-to-back with another block of language study on campus, with a summer program, or with study abroad. This would stretch out the immersion experience. A very high percentage of CC students do study abroad. However, you have to consider the costs of off-campus programs. </p>
<p>To help sustain language skills across blocks, there are language houses ([Language</a> Houses at Colorado College](<a href=“http://www.coloradocollege.edu/offices/residentiallife/housing-facilities-information/language-houses/]Language”>http://www.coloradocollege.edu/offices/residentiallife/housing-facilities-information/language-houses/)). Ask language teachers or students at CC about other ways to sustain skills across blocks.</p>
<p>I did email them last night, but it’s the weekend, so I figure I won’t hear back until at least Monday.</p>
<p>SDonCC and tk, thank you both so much for your advice. I sort of get the vibe that CC is more outdoors-oriented and that’s not really my number one thing, I like hiking but I’m not big into skiing or anything like that. I’m from Illinois, so I haven’t had much exposure to the great outdoors.</p>
<p>Last question: okay, so I realized that one of the main reasons I applied to CC was because I think the block plan is perfect for me (besides the language problem, which I think could be worked around) and also their Southwest Studies major. However, one thing that draws me most to Grinnell is the intellectual/quirky vibe, which I don’t really get from CC. Though I am visiting at some point in the next two weeks, can anyone speak to the intellectualism of the CC student body?</p>
<p>SgtDonut, I"m glad you are going to visit CC. One thing I’d wonder about is what the Block Plan means for the rhythm of life on campus, both during the academic sessions and the break between them. It sounds like students might be coming and going alot, both for field study and then on the breaks. What does the compression of learning mean for the social and extracurricular environment? What is it like having finals eight times a year (even if it is only for one course)? If you attend CC, you might discover a passion for outdoor recreation; but what if you don’t? what is life like on campus for those who aren’t that involved?</p>
<p>I am not trying to cast judgement, but I do think that it is critical to examine the block plan not only for the intellectual focus, but for the impact on student life. </p>
<p>I think the other question about CC students that I would wonder is this: assuming that there is a strong intellectual component to the student body, how varied are these interests outside the classroom? Because CC is so appealing to the outdoor enthusiast, my sense is that activism and interests will tend towards environmental issues. I may be TOTALLY off-base with this perception, but I just throw it out there for you to investigate.</p>
<p>As I stated above, I have first-hand knowledge only about Grinnell, but if we had looked at CC for my S, these would have been questions I’d have wanted answered.</p>
<p>One other question about the academics: do students feel they do learn more in-depth or does it get covered so quickly that they end up skimming only the surface? What does the block study mean for the progression of ideas and the flowering of intellectual thought? Perhaps the singular focus is better for this; perhaps it is not. I just throw it out there for you to learn more about.</p>
<p>SgtDonut, because I know that the FA at these schools was critical to your narrowing this down, I would also recommend that you are aware of any additional costs you may accrue. What are the travel costs to and from school? </p>
<p>What about costs once on campus? At Grinnell, virtually everything on campus is free. Students do go into town for dinner sometimes, but there is not that much to suck away money otherwise. The school also subsidizes internships and has funding for alot of other stuff.</p>
<p>At CC, I’d wonder about the entertainment costs of students – how much and what do they do in Colorado Springs? What are the costs of pursuing things during the breaks between the blocks?</p>
<p>While you have been assured that students don’t flaunt their wealth on campus at CC, there may be differences in the amount of and options for disposable income at CC than at Grinnell and I would encourage you to learn more about this as well. Again, I am coming at this from a lack of first-hand knowledge, so not saying the points I am raising are valid: just that you should ask these questions.</p>
<p>^ I think those are perfectly valid points.</p>
<p>CC has a lively extracurricular life. You can have a good experience without a lot of money. However, you’ll need to accept the fact that many students there DO have a lot of money. On weekends and during block breaks, many of them will be off skiing/snowboarding at places 90 minutes away (or more) that require expensive lift tickets. CC has one of the highest study abroad rates of any college, so by your 3rd year, many classmates will be off on programs all over the world that may or may not be supported entirely by financial aid (ask about this).</p>
<p>As for the intellectual atmosphere, this is something you should try to observe first hand and ask about on your visits. My impression is that the intellectual atmosphere is rather rich, but it is not a nerdy, self-consciously intellectual place in the Reed or UChicago mold.</p>