Would it stand out on my application? Or would a school like Grinnell be better?
It would depend on how you stand out at either school.
Some people love the block plan. some don’t. Maybe If I wear you check and see if you like the block plan. If not then you can cross Colorado College off your list
Both are great liberal arts schools. I’d give CC a big advantage on location - less isolated, great for anyone interested in outdoor pursuits, easier to get to. Rankings, not that I put much weight into them, aren’t that far apart but CC is more difficult to get into than Grinnell.
By US News methodology, Grinnell lists (#9 by “selectivity rank” in its category) as a more selective school than Colorado College (#19).
Grinnell accepts a much higher percentage of students than CC which reflects the difference in desirability between schools.
“The overall admit rate dropped to a record low of 15.8 percent and the admit rates by round are as follows: Early Decision (1 and 2) 31.4 percent; Early Action 17.4 percent; Regular Action 6.2 percent.”
https://www.coloradocollege.edu/basics/welcome/overview/classprofile/
Grinnell:
"Fall 2016 Acceptance Rates
Early Decision I & II (combined): 47%
Regular Decision: 19%"
https://www.grinnell.edu/admission/apply/first-year/early-decision
Acceptance rate alone doesn’t mean anything without taking into account the quality of the applying pools applying to each school. As far as I can find, the average Grinnell admittee has slightly higher test scores and high school grades than the average Colorado College admittee. I guess that means Colorado College gets a lot more applicants who really aren’t qualified.
With that said, Colorado College is a very good school with a unique approach, and will serve you well.
“I guess that means Colorado College gets a lot more applicants who really aren’t qualified.”
Hard to tell by the data we are given, @ThankYouforHelp. Making your claim, you have to assume that both schools weigh test scores/grades as heavily. Based on my own presumptions, I’d argue that CC is more holistic in its selection process. The application is essay heavy and carries some weight in decisions. The school wants kids that can work with and desire the block plan. Fit is important.
In this selectivity-related (standardized scoring) analysis, Grinnell and CC can be directly compared:
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9
Irrespective of the comparison, Colorado College would indeed be highly selective by absolute standards.
This article discusses block plans in general:
http://www.macleans.ca/education/uniandcollege/beware-of-block-programs/
Grinnell’s acceptance rate in 2016 was 18%; last year, I believe, it was 25%. Colorado College’s acceptance rate is 17% and Grinnell’s is 18%. Their students’ test scores, class ranks, and high school grades are similar (Grinnell’s are slightly higher but not enough to be functionally different). They’re both excellent elite colleges and you can get a top-notch education and good post-graduate opportunities from either.
I agree the main difference here is Colorado’s block plan and then the location - Grinnell is far more isolated. I think the above article merc81 posted about block plans has some really good points to consider.
College rankings are like sausage: they seem like a good idea until you see what goes into them. Seriously, read the criteria for the 4 or 5 major rankings and what they include. You will probably never read them again. US News relies heavily on East Coast high school guidance counselors (which tends to discount the value of CC, Pomona, Mudd, Scripps, Pitzer, Reed and Whitman, in the Liberal Arts category.) Another uses the Rate my Professor website. Neither are particularly scientific.
If you take the top 20 to 25 liberal arts colleges, and eliminate the hype, they are all essentially the same. This is especially so since college #25 might have a far superior department in your major than #1. While I don’t know this for a fact, when you graduate and look for a job, I can’t see any company saying, " Jeez, you are a great applicant, but your college was only rated #18. If only you had attended the #16 college, I could easily give you this job." Both CC and Grinnel are great schools ( admittedly, I am a CC student so I am biased.) But so are Carleton, Washington & Lee, Bowdoin, Hamilton, Wesleyan or any of the others mentioned above. Steve Jobs chose Reed ( and didn’t even finish) and that choice did not seem to hurt him.
Sadly, I will have to disagree with juillet about the article from merc. The author is clearly someone who never took a block class and should be disqualified from commenting. The article is written as if a standard semester class is the only one taken. However, the chaos that comes with 4 or 5 classes is no different. How does one study effectively for any midterm or final, when you have three of them in 2 days and 4 or 5 within 4 days? How does one write 3 term papers coincidentally?
It is true that getting sick at CC is not a good idea. One class is equal to a week or more of a semester based class. That said, at CC, the professors only teach one class per block as well, so they are far more available for students to consult. Furthermore, the Block Plan empowers teachers to establish ‘living labs’. In Geology, most classes commit 3 to 5 days to a field trip, to see learning in action. That is impossible in the semester based universities. I have not taken a single class that did not have a day long field trip ( usually 2 or 3) or service learning trip. Again, that is not possible in a semester based system, at least not without missing a few classes in 2 or 3 subjects.
Every class at CC runs from 9 to 12 ( science have additional labs.) So class discussions - teacher included - can last to 1, 3 or even into dinner. Try that in a semester based school, with 2 other classes that day for both student and professor.
I just had a grou project due on Monday, and a term paper due on Tuesday. That was not exactly fun. However, I took college classes in high school, and had 2 finals due one day and a term paper the next. That wasn’t fun either and at least this Block, my two challenges were within the same subject matter.
Block is not for everyone. It is intense. It requires great fortitude. However, it also allows a student to immerse themself into a subject and go explore other questions that pop up in your head. This is impossible in a semester system, because that time would be committed to a completely different class. Besides, if the intensity gets you down, CC is only 10 minutes from an amazing place to clear your head - Garden of the Gods, and it is called that for a reason.
But for those determined to take acceptance rate into consideration, the most recent statistics for CC relate that overall admissions were 15.8%, not 17%.
Source: https://www.coloradocollege.edu/basics/welcome/overview/classprofile/
Opinions from either the outside or the inside should ideally be subject to to the findings of social science. For example, with respect to learning in general, the benefits of the Spacing Effect appear to be widely accepted (from Czaja and McGee, in American Secondary Education):
“One of the most dependable findings from psychology holds up in classroom research: that ‘spaced’ practices over several lessons or study periods is superior to equal amounts of time spent in ‘massed’ practice . . . Indeed, two spaced presentations or practice sessions are about twice as effective as two successive massed presentations of the same length.”
The point here wouldn’t be that the above-quoted study would necessarily pertain to block scheduling on a post-secondary level. This conclusion would simply be outside the scope of the research. However, the adherence to findings beyond opinion should have relevance to anyone sincerely interested in the benefits or drawbacks of block scheduling on any level.
The academic paper from Czaja & McGee can be found here:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41064119?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
The case study has absolutely no bearing on what happens at CC because:
- The case study was performed at Mansfield HS, not a university. Study modalities are different for more experienced college students.
- The block program considered in the study is an entirely different model. In that model, students took 4 classes per day, each of them 90 minutes as opposed to the more traditional 50 to 55 minutes.
- The block program to which the authors point is designed to give high school students an opportunity to take 8 credits per year instead of 6, and potentially graduate early. That was precisely my experience in HS, but I chose CC knowing that the only similarity in the Block Programs was semantic.
The students in this scenario still participated in 4 classes coincidentally. At CC, there is only a single class per block. Furthermore, the single class per day at CC is quite frequently broken up into two or more distinct activities. There are very few 3 hour lectures at CC. In addition, a critical part of the CC Block program is the active experience, where students participate in off campus activities for 1 to 5 days at a time. That is impossible in a typical university scheduel, or the schedule Czaja & McGee reviewed at Mansfield HS, as it would have a detrimental impact on the remaining 3 or 4 classes taken coincidentally. It is possible that there exists a study which compares the block methodology employed by CC with a more traditional university classload. However, the article by Czaja & McGee considers an entirely different methodology and environment. There are too many confounds to extrapolate conclusions to apply to the CC Block Plan. One must also consider the qualitative concept of passion. The classwork reviewed by the authors was imposed upon the students, regardless of interest or enthusiasm. With the exception of core requirements, college students participate primarily in classes which they choose, and in which they have curiosity. That factor is difficult to quantify, but it surely plays a role in engagement and retention.
^ See the smart kids you could go to school with at Colorado College? 
Bottom line, to the OP’s question in the title. Yes, it is a good school.