If a college is excellent and reputable enough, it won’t worry about whether students will choose it to enroll or use Eearly Decision to ensure over half of the enrollment of the calss. A Prestigious college has enough strength to attract students from all over the world because such college believe students will list it as their top choice college. Such college will not use ED to binding their enrollment to make the data looks well. This is the difference between a top tier college and a tier-down and data tricking college.
The key concerns for the OP seem to be CC’s Block Plan and Oberlin’s political environment.
No amount of admission statistics will address those concerns.
For language study, the biggest issue with the BP may not be the long morning classes. Immersion is exactly what you need to develop foreign language competence. The bigger issue may be maintaining continuity from block to block when you’re taking courses in other subjects. The OP may want to investigate how to address that issue by adjunct/maintenance courses or membership in a language house(s). You also might want to look closely at how study abroad works with the BP (which gives you the option of longer/shorter periods abroad than a single semester or academic year).
As for the political environment, I’m wary of pigeon-holing colleges by “vibe”. Sure, there are differences. But there are differences within each school as well as from school to school. If the OP has these concerns, but chooses Oberlin, there must be other, like-minded students with similar concerns who also choose Oberlin. The question is whether a certain atmosphere, which you don’t like, is so pervasive and inescapable that it spoils your college experience.
One of my kids graduated from CC, where he had a wonderful 4y experience. He has said that no other college would have been a better choice for him. I knew little about it before he applied, but became very impressed by its academic quality, the students, and the campus atmosphere. Students I met struck me as serious but fun-loving, polite, well-balanced people. However, the BP should not be something you merely tolerate. It’s such an important part of the program that you almost have to embrace it to succeed at CC.
“You need a long process to immerse into it, not just several weeks”
CC offers adjunct classes allowing students to stay fresh with languages between blocks of taking classes. In addition, there are language houses with activities for nonresidents and language tables at meals.
And actually deep immersion during a block can be a good way to learn a language. Isn’t that why study abroad is so effective in language learning? More hours per day?
As far as post #39 and #40 regarding Early Decision info, the posts by Nick provide a poor analysis of early decision as a tool in admissions overall as well as specifically for Colorado College. What is impressive about CC is the very strong interest from students in applying ED to CC as evidenced by the data in the Common Data Set. It speaks volumes as to why CC is on the upclimb and the desirability of the college.
For the last admission cycle in 2018, 1,119 students applied ED (huge and speaks to the strong interest students have in attending!) and 307 were accepted (total for ED1 and ED2).
That means the ED acceptance rate was only 27.4% which is an amazing 12% BELOW Oberlin’s OVERALL acceptance rate of 39% for that admission cycle.
Oberlin only attracted 506 ED applicants and accepted 49% of them. If Oberlin had the type of ED interest CC does, it wouldn’t have suffered from declining enrollment the past few years.
CC’s ED admissions are a strength for the college not a weakness nor a trick of any kind. There are higher ranked colleges who would love to have that kind of ED interest.
And even the poster’s examples of Haverford and Vassar (great schools) don’t hold sway:
Haverford accepted 196 out of 444 ED applicants so 44% and more than half their class.
Vassar accepted 297 out of 679 ED applicants so 44% and roughly half their class (not unusual for LACs mind you).
Pesky facts again. Nick, you might want to take a statistics class at Oberlin. 
If you don’t like the block plan, the answer is simple, go Oberlin. The block plan is a critical part of CC.
I think your music opportunities are more plentiful at CC than Oberlin where you will be competing with the conservatory there. I like the atmosphere and environment of CC much more but the block plan is a deal breaker.
I just want to reiterate that the Block Plan works well for studying languages. As @doschicos mentioned, there are adjunct classes, language house gatherings, meals together, and many ongoing opportunities for speaking and continuing the immersion experience. I felt great about what what was possible as a French major at CC, and I’m sure it would be even better for two or three languages. CC prepared me well for study in France and for additional language study at Middlebury. I truly loved my French degree at Colorado College.
I don’t want to get into a tit-for-tat about about admission rates, but, if it does turn out that Colorado College’s acceptance rate for the Class of 2023 is 13.4%, with just short of 9,000 applicants, that says a lot about the appeal of the school. I agree It should not be determinative in one’s decision, since “fit” is quite subjective, but it does suggest that CC is recognized as a superb school and is highly sought after. It is significant that CC accepts just over 25% ED since the quality of that pool means they could accept the entire class through ED and EA combined. Instead, they give everyone a chance and carefully consider RD candidates (though they cannot accept more than about 5 or 6% of that group since so many students apply RD).
The Block Plan and the incredible community at Colorado College should be important parts of your decision. As @cptofthehouse and others have suggested, you have to feel you’ll love, and thrive under, the Block Plan. I did. It made me choose CC even when my dad practically begged me to go to Duke. (There were, of course, other reasons for my decision.) While I was at CC, a visitor (who became a friend) drove from Harvard and stayed with us at Jackson House, a theme house at CC. She was so impressed with the school that she transferred from Harvard to CC. Colorado College is a great community. Oberlin probably is, too, so that’s where you have to consider where you think you’ll feel whole, where you think you’ll be happiest.
I hope you’ll let us know what you decide, @hydrationiskey. I think you’ve heard a lot of great advice here, and it would be interesting for us to follow you, to see what you decide, and to hear how you feel about your decision after a semester and/or a year.
I just wanted to ask OP where things stand in your process. How are you thinking about the choice as the decision time approaches?
Since I was a language major at CC, I wanted to reiterate that there are many ways to keep up with languages once the block ends, whether through adjunct classes, language house gatherings, informal chats, etc. Some language classes go on for two blocks.
The Block Plan is crucial to your happiness and success. You have to be willing to embrace it if CC is to work for you.
CC is a highly desirable school, as the high number of applications and low rate of acceptance indicate. It is widely admired. I am convinced it will become even more of a national treasure within ten years. I would not hesitate to take the leap to CC unless you feel you would prefer a more traditional academic calendar and want to be surrounded by the benefits of The Conservatory. In that case, I think Oberlin would probably be a better choice.
Life is not just studying! Also, do you plan to bring a car? Both northern Ohio and Colorado Springs are places cars come in handy ! AT CC, you will have a lot of down time between intense 3 week classes. You may need a car
to enjoy Colorado, although your classmates will have one I bet.
What about outside of school, what do you like to do? Colorado Springs is a big city now, as big as Denver,
and outdoor activities abound. Hiking, and cross country skiing is really amazing to the west of Colorado Springs, and the city itself has a lot to do, for night activities. Garden of the Gods is a famous tourist red rock formation. Pike Peak is the other touristy train in the area, but Old Colorado City is my favorite place to the west of CC campus. Its a cute historic town. We have very very sunny winters in Colorado, and about 300 days of sunshine a year.
Ohio has much better falls though, than Colorado, beautiful warm days, and fall colors. Winter is not that bad in Ohio, and spring is really nice, summer, cool and lovely up there by Lake Erie. Its pleasant four seasons and not
as much snow as you might believe.
I know Cleveland well, and Oberlin students can choose to get out of their LAC bubble to enjoy it . Cleveland offers a top FIVE orchestra in the world, I mean better than New York Phil. And student discounts. However you might need a car to get over to Cleveland, and enjoy the art and music there. Cleveland Museum of Art is free every day and on the order of Boston Fine Arts. There is an inexpensive cafeteria to eat in Cleveland Museum of art.
I have always heard that Oberlin gets transfers from more boring LACs like Bowdoin, which is all about studying, Oberlin has a social life, thats better than others, as its a bit bigger than other LACs.
Its too bad that Oberlin is swept into politics, but not everyone will be hyper focused on that. Northern Ohio has apple picking, and Lake Erie is a nice distraction, beaches in summer, a big amusement park in Sandusky, good botanic gardens and zoo in Cleveland.
Hello everyone, sorry I have been a bit quiet on my end. Let me see if I can address most of the questions that have been posed to me.
I do enjoy the music, but frankly, I’m not the greatest musician in the world. I love music, I can play instruments, and I know theory, but I would probably be placed in a lower spot in ensembles at Oberlin.
I have been looking into some of the language-based things at both campuses and seeing what would suit me more.
I’m not going to bring a car because I’m out of state and, as a first-year, wouldn’t be able to have one anyway. I don’t think much of what I do will be off campus because that’s not the type of person I am. Like I may venture off campus sometimes but I don’t think it will be super often.
A more concerning realization I’ve seemed to make after seeing all of your advice and cautions and visiting both campuses is that I don’t feel content at either school. Or, as content as one should be, going to a school that wasn’t their first choice but still an amazing place of learning and growth. When I think about my experience on both campuses, it feels lacking in sorts. Maybe, I suppose, as @Publisher wrote, I should just choose one and see if I’m happy. If not, then I should transfer.
I’ll keep everyone updated, and hopefully, by Wednesday, I would have posted my decision. Thank you again everyone.
@hydrationiskey: Both schools have very strong personalities. You will either love or hate the block plan and three hour long classes. You will either love or hate the social environment at Oberlin. Presently, there does not seem to be a more moderate alternative.
After a semester at either school, you will know & understand yourself much better. It is not really about the schools, it is about you & who you are at this stage of your life.
@hydrationiskey Are there any other options other than CC or Oberlin? If so, maybe there’s a middle ground that might be worth exploring, even if it’s not as highly ranked as these two schools. Given that you got into both, I imagine you have other possibilities. I think @publisher hit this on the head - both options have somewhat strong negatives for you. If you have other schools still in play and want a sounding board, come back and tell us what they are.
@mamaedefamilia I do, but they don’t really interest me. Most of them, I have already declined the offer, but I believe the only ones whose offer I still have are Franklin and Marshall, UC Riverside, and UC Santa Cruz. But, these either aren’t giving me enough aid (UCs) or don’t have anything that truly interests me (F&M). This isn’t to say they aren’t great schools; they’re just not great for me. Which is why my attention was on CC and Oberlin. Something drew me to each one. But honestly, I think I was just always more intrigued by the colleges that I didn’t end up getting into.
@hydrationiskey So here’s another idea - what were your dream schools? If you don’t mind sharing where you didn’t get in, your choice could become clearer by way of comparison.
@mamaedefamilia My ED was Tufts. My EDII (if I hadn’t been deferred by Tufts) would have been Middlebury.
Especially if you choose CC, that could change. It does not have to … you could spend 4 years without leaving campus … but IMO that would be a shame, given the CC location and the Block Break opportunities.
Other than the BP, the Rocky Mountain location may be CC’s most distinctive feature. It is invariably described as “outdoorsy”. Road trips are a popular way to spend Block Breaks (along with skiing, hiking, and other outdoor activities). If none of that appeals to you, then the campus culture may seem a little too hyperactive (though I’m not saying you need to have your own car to enjoy it.)
@hydrationiskey wrote “I don’t think much of what I do will be off campus because that’s not the type of person I am”.
Unless you change, CC is not the school for you. Although few will admit this, many, probably most, students who select CC do so with the frequent long breaks between blocks in mind as accommodation for activities off campus such as skiing, hiking & camping.
@hydrationiskey Ah, Middlebury for the languages, and Tufts because of location, size, heterogeneity of student population, and diversity of majors, I would guess. I don’t know Middlebury personally but my impression is that it may split the difference between Oberlin and CC in some aspects that are important to you.
Even Middlebury, however, has its contingent of social justice warriors, as do other LACs and universities where outcry and debate has emerged over stifling of free speech, cultural appropriation and stereotyping, (Bowdoin, sombrero incident) and Yale (appropriate limits for Halloween costumes). This is not to say that any of these places are unusually or pervasively PC, just that incidents can occur anywhere with greater or lesser intensity.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/middlebury-free-speech-violence/518667/
Regarding classroom climate, this editorial written by a CC professor (nearly a decade ago) might be useful in your deliberations. I can’t say how representative this view is across campus, but it provides food for thought.
Oberlin seems to attract more students than CC who are interested in majoring in foreign languages and literatures.
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Oberlin&s=all&id=204501#programs
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Colorado&s=all&id=126678#programs
@mamaedefamilia almost! Tufts for all of that and because of the diversity of student organizations. Reading both articles were very interesting and I’m glad you directed me to them. Looking at Middlebury, I would agree. I feel that had I tried for EDI or EDII there, I may have been able to get in. But, who knows? It is interesting to note that all schools are like Berkeley to varying levels (no offense).
I think you are in better position with your current choices than you might yet realize, @hydrationiskey.
@merc81 how so?