<p>mcjones - I drove all of my stuff out here at the beginning of freshman year (week long family road trip!), which I think is a lot easier than flying, especially now that most airlines are charging astronomical fees for checking more than two bags. So driving is definitely my recommendation. My family decided to make the road trip a mini vacation so it took us a week to drive from CT to Colorado Springs (we went up to South Dakota to check out Mt. Rushmore and the badlands), but if you just drive straight you can probably do it in 3-4 days. I am planning on heading back east after graduation and am going to once again driving everything back with my parents. Also, one really convenient thing I remember doing through Bed, Bath and Beyond before freshman year was I went to a local store and picked out all of the items I wanted for my dorm room, then the store sent a list of everything I had purchased to the closest bed, bath and beyond to campus. When I got to Colorado Springs, my parents and I went to that store, they pulled up our list, and got all of the items for us. This eliminated the need to transport bulky items (lamps, chairs, beanbags, bedding, etc.)</p>
<p>I generally only go home for the summer, winter break, and the occasional spring break when I had no other plans. As you mentioned, it’s just too pricey to constantly be flying back and forth for block breaks. Plus, there are so many awesome things to do out here, I don’t really want to spend block break in Connecticut :). Block breaks are the only breaks we get aside from extended spring, winter and summer breaks. We never have three day weekends or anything like that because of the block plan. 3rd block break usually includes Thanksgiving, and except for freshman year I’ve always just had Thanksgiving dinner with a friend’s family in Colorado. Everytime I’ve gone home for the summer (3 month long break), I’ve packed two large suitcases and flown on airlines that don’t charge for bags (Southwest and Frontier are the two that come to mind), though this can get tricky since Southwest only flies out of the Denver airport, which is much farther from campus and therefore harder to get to.</p>
<p>leavesofgrass - Sorry I haven’t responded yet. I somehow missed your post! Anyways, there are ample research opportunities for students in the bio department (can’t say if it’s the case for other departments as well, though it probably is). Most professors are very approachable, and if you’ve taken a class or two with a professor who does research you are interested in, you can ask him/her if you can help out with their research. I know students who have devoted entire blocks and summers to helping professors out with their research. As for grad school acceptance rates and faculty support during the process, I honestly have no idea because I never considered applying to grad school. With that being said, everyone I know that applied this year got accepted to their top choices. The faculty in general are extremely supportive and helpful, so I don’t doubt they’re the same for grad school applications. My advisor has always been so helpful and a great academic resource for me. We also have a career center, but honestly I’ve never used their services so I can’t comment on it, though based on what I’ve heard from others I think they’re pretty helpful with things like resume writing, finding summer internships, job searches, etc. </p>
<p>Prevalence of drugs/alcohol - well, it is college, so these things are definitely around. I would say alcohol is pretty prevalent, but it’s not like all 2,000 students drink, and there’s always plenty of alcohol free events happening both during the week and on weekends. There are also substance free housing options for freshmen. As for drugs, if you want them, they’re here and if you don’t want them, they can easily be avoided. I feel like drug usage is probably the same here as at most other colleges in the country (though pot use may be higher). There’s always going to be a contingent of drug users, but nothing will ever be forced upon you.</p>
<p>mcjones, you were asking about traveling from the NY/Fairfield area? I have 2 students at CC. You have to connect to get into COS (Colorado Springs airport) so most of the time my kids just fly out of HPN (Whiteplains) airport thru ORD (Chicago) It is usually slightly more expensive to fly from there but when I factor in the expense and/or the time to drive to LGA/JFK I usually find it worth it. That said you need to keep in mind that weather can definitely play a factor in Chicago. About a 1/3 of the time there are connection issues. My daughter prefers if possible to connect thru Denver but that requires leaving from LGA so that doesn’t happen often. With some planning we can usually get tickets for around $300 round trip although it does seem to be more expensive these days. My kids do not come home for block breaks though so there are many trips a year. My son helped a friend drive his car out last fall but other than that we have just shipped their stuff at the beginning of freshman year. If you shipped parcel post and use the awesome Bed, Bath and Beyond service it is really easy. Good luck if you have any other questions I’d be happy to try to answer them!</p>