<p>I never heard of Colorado College until I was already in college, so of course, I never went. But I grew up near Cornell College and loved the block system idea. I never went to Cornell College because I did not want to go to college so close to home. Years later, I had really thought my children would look at Colorado College and seriously consider it. Also, my in-laws have a home in Colorado Springs.</p>
<p>But, every bit of interaction we have had with Colorado College has been negative. They have given me, my husband, and my one child a bad impression. My other child still is interested, mostly because he still wants the block system and he likes Colorado Springs. However, he has not visited the campus yet (almost visited, but there was an incident on the campus that day so we only got as far as the parking lot and had to leave).</p>
<p>Has anyone had experiences with Colorado College? Of so..what has it been like? What kind of student do you think would do well there vs the kind that would not be so happy once there? Thank you!</p>
<p>I actually visited there the spring of my sophomore year and have nothing but nice things to say about everyone I interacted with there. I even was able to talk to a professor about my area of interest. It was only the second college I toured so at the time I didn’t have much basis for comparison, but I would still rank it well. The students seemed really happy, although as my tour guide said, it was a “magical” time in the block – exams weren’t in the next week and a half so everyone was laid back. Its definitely a little “crunchy granola” as my mom would say, but we found the school, the students, and the town to be really friendly and warm. I can see it being a good fit or a bad fit for particular types of students, just like every place else. I think a good fit would be an outdoorsy student, one who wasn’t concerned with perfect hair and makeup, who likes to study hard at one thing at a time and doesn’t get bored with “just” that. The students seemed very active in terms of social concerns too. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>I had a friend whose son attended for 2 years but got kicked out for multiple drinking issues. They loved it up until then. He was an athlete there. I have always been impressed with it but the block system is not for everyone.</p>
<p>I would keep an open mind and take another look at it.</p>
<p>We visited it and were favorably impressed on all counts; it remained on my D’s final list. No issues with visiting, students and profs were friendly, etc.</p>
<p>I will graduate from CC in a couple of days. Although there were some good things about it, I overall, would choose not to go back–especially if one would like to major in sciences and/or is not left of Karl Marx.</p>
<p>^ Interesting. The conservative ISI ([CollegeGuide.org</a> - What is CollegeGuide.org](<a href=“http://www.collegeguide.org/about_cg.aspx]CollegeGuide.org”>http://www.collegeguide.org/about_cg.aspx)) gives Colorado College its “green light” rating. Colleges that get the ISI “red light” include: Middlebury, Amherst, Vassar, Wesleyan, Barnard, Hamilton, Bryn Mawr, Macalester, Bucknell, Holy Cross, and Mt. Holyoke. Colleges that get the ISI “yellow light” include Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Carleton, Grinnell, Bates, Colby, Smith, Kenyon, Colgate, the University of Richmond, Connecticut College, and Trinity (CT). </p>
<p>So tigergirl, if you think CC is aggressively promoting a leftist agenda, then you might have been uncomfortable at most of the 40 or so most selective LACs. College professors, except at Christian colleges or in certain fields (such as engineering), do tend to be relatively liberal.</p>
<p>If you’re considering this school, the single most important factor you need to think about is the Block Plan and how it will work for you. A fairly distant second, in my opinion, is the school’s location (in a rather different setting than what you’ll find at most other selective LACs).</p>
<p>If you saw the most recent advertising stuff coming out of Colorado College, I can tell you, it is extreme leftist and that website you referred to should change them to a red light.</p>
<p>So I just have to post here with my S’s experience with CC. I want to start by saying that I still think that CC is a great school. But here is our experience.</p>
<h1>1… My S fell in in love with CC when he was in the 9th grade. thought it was the perfect school for him in every way. He is an Eagle Scout, has over 1500 hrs of Community Service in all kinds of conservation and Environmental Organizations. Spent his 2nd semester Junior year living and working on an organic farm in VT. Volunteered up in our local mountains for the search and rescue team, is a competitive rock climber, and a first responder who has been recognized twice in our local media for rescuing hikers and saving their lives.He had a 2200 SAT and a 3.6 GPA from a very rigorous top private prep. His teachers LOVE him. This is a kid who spent his weekends helping senior citizens with their yard work. He visited, interviewed and was hooked.</h1>
<h1>2 He applies to CC EA, as we are NOT rich and need substantial FA… he was on total scholarship at his HS. I was afraid to have him apply ED… although he really wanted to.</h1>
<h1>3… CC emails my S and asks him if he wants to change his EA to ED. I try to discourage him, but in the end I let him go ahead after a lengthy discussion about if the aid wasn’t good then he would have to say no.</h1>
<h1>4 The FA department contacts us to ask us a ton of questions… I am thinking this is a good sign as why would they go to all this trouble if he wasn’t accepted.</h1>
<h1>5… The deferral letter comes in the mail…WHAT???</h1>
<h1>6 CC then proceeds to email my S and ask him if he would be willing to take a gap semester or a gap year… he says yes, as he was going to do that anyway.</h1>
<h1>7 Rejection letter</h1>
<h1>8… Son gets a full scholarship from a fantastic school, where he fell madly in love after going to accepted students day… this is the best part.</h1>
<h1>9 S deferred a year and is now hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and is at mile 350… he is living his dream and CC is a distant memory.</h1>
<p>Moral of the story… DO NOT APPLY TO CC IF YOU HAVE SUBSTANTIAL NEED!! They played dirty pool and I will probably never forgive them!!</p>
<p>According to the CDS, only 36% of the students at CC receive FA. That’s quite an imbalance.</p>
<p>We never looked at CC, but I know someone who transferred out, because she found that instead of the block plan allowing greater depth in each subject, it actually felt too superficial because of the short time frame.</p>
<p>Yes… it is quite!! I think that the admissions office accepted my S and when his file was sent to the FA office they went… " WOW… we don’t want to part with that much $$" so “NO”… Very sad and unfortunate on CC"s part.</p>
<p>I’m going to a public school with a primarily in-state population consisting of middle and upper class white people. Tuition and fees $15,000 compared to CC’s $52,000. And according to our CDS, 46% of students get financial aid.</p>
<p>For more propriety, since public schools do tend to give more FA by nature, I looked up the CDS of cheapest private college I could think of, BYU (tuition and fees $17,500.) 41% granted financial aid.</p>
<p>How can any elite private college operate a financial aid department that is THAT unyielding?</p>
<p>That is the percentage of first year students in 2010-11 who were determined to have need. Of those who were awarded any need-based aid, 97% of need was met. Only a few schools do much better than that (the 50 or so colleges and universities that claim to meet 100% of determined need).</p>
<p>So, does 36% represent an “imbalance”? True, it’s a lower percentage than at some other selective LACs. At Grinnell (which is flush with Warren Buffett money), about 75% of first year students in 2011-12 were determined to have need. At Middlebury, the percentage was about 37%; at Colgate, it was about 35%.</p>
<p>What we don’t know from these figures is to what extent they reflect the demographics of applicants to these schools vs. the school’s policies and practices. Middlebury claims to be a need-blind, full-need school (so presumably, if their percentage of need-based aid recipients is relatively low, it’s because fewer needy students apply). Colorado College or Colgate may be need-aware to some degree in their admission decisions. Their applicant pools may look like Grinnell’s (in which case, they’re cherry-picking more full-pay applicants) … or, they may not be too different from Middlebury’s. </p>
<p>Kiplinger rates Colorado College the #11 “best value” among liberal arts colleges. For recipients of need-based aid, the net cost of attendance on average is about $20K. By comparison, at St. Mary’s College of Maryland (a small public LAC), the cost of attendance for an out-of-state student, after average need-based aid, is about $30K (or about $18K for a MD resident, after average need-based aid). On average, SMCM only meets about 62% of determined need (compared to CC’s 97%).</p>
<p>You raise some interesting points about the demographics of the students applying to these schools. YOu mentioned only Grinnell among the schools with the highest endowments. Note that Wiliams and Swarthmore who are also in the top five (and higher than Grinnell, although I think Grinnell is higher per capita than WIlliams) awarded about 50% of students with FA.</p>
<p>In Grinnell’s case, it is also an institutional mission to encourage diversity. I know all schools are interested in increasing these numbers, but based on my experience with a student at Grinnell, it is one of the school’s top values and one that they really put their money where their mouth is. </p>
<p>But, perhaps because Grinnell is a school known for good FA (and it awards merit money), it also attracts more applicants who need money.</p>
<p>Comparing the percentage of students determined to have need at one school with the percentage at another school is not very useful since the basis for determining need can vary widely. My older son was a case in point. He received about $20k in need based grants from Carleton, about $18k from Brown, about $16k from Grinnell, and zero from both Midd and Bowdoin. CC gave him $10k in merit and about $1k in need grants. Whitman gave him about $24k in grants that were an undefined mix of need and merit. </p>
<p>For what it’s worth, my younger son applied to CC this year and was rejected after being deferred EA and after we submitted our financial aid forms. Since we now have two attending, our need is greater than when S1 applied, so that may have been a factor in his rejection. On the other hand, his stats are not quite as high as S1’s, so it’s hard to say. Younger son will be attending Whitman in the fall with about $24k in need and merit grants, so I guess it all worked out. :). I will say both my sons liked what they saw of CC, but got the impression the students were very well heeled even when compared to the other LACs they considered.</p>