Colorado College Top Questions

Colorado College is the perfect place for a person like me- a person who works hard and plays hard. The people are what set CC apart- from the profs to the students to the admission folks. Everyone loves CC and can't get enough of the place. The block plan is very demanding (duh) and is not for the faint of heart, especially in the sciences, but most everyone loves it. If i could change one thing I'd add about 1,000 kids to the student body- a slightly bigger school might be nice. But at the same time it's really nice to know a good portion of your classmates. I have a huge amount of CC pride, as do most alums. CC's the shit, plain and simple. A damn good school, with an ahead-of-its-time block plan, at the foot of a 14,000 foot mountain. Enough said.

Colorado College is a small liberal arts school where classes are never more than twenty-five students. It isn't uncommon to be invited to a professor's house for a class dinner. It is small enough you will recognize most of the faces and be surprised at how quickly rumors and news circulate, but still large enough you are constantly meeting new people. CC is a liberal, religiously tolerating campus set in the middle of Colorado Springs, a conservative, Chrisitian city. It nests at the base of Pike's Peak and there are many opportunities to enjoy the outdoors of Colorado.

All things considered Colorado College is a fantastic place to go to school. The academics are top notch if you are capable of taking one class at a time for three and a half weeks at a time. There are more extra curricular activities than you know what to do with. And the party scene is fantastic because almost every party thrown by C.C. students has a theme and a very vast majority of the kids who go th them dress up for the theme. The best thing about Colorado College is the people. C.C attracts some of the most interesting people you could ever meet. This last year I lived with a belly dancer, a kid who started a senior club whose sole purpose was to break onto the roof of every building on campus to and repel off of them, and a guy who made $6,000 selling organic cotton tee shirts and now lives in an RV still selling them.

The main thing to note about Colorado College, in my opinion, is the block plan. We take one class at a time, each for 3 and a half weeks. You have class every day, usually from 9-12, and then lab in the afternoon if applicable. I love it because you really learn a lot in a short amount of time. It's hard work, and there's lots of homework, but it's also very rewarding. It's a small school, so you recognize almost everyone on campus, including the professors, which is great. Almost all of the professors encourage students to call them by their first name, and you really feel like you can talk to them about anything. Also, the campus is very small but nice. We're right at the foot of Pikes Peak, and it really starts to feel like home before you know it. Students are required to live on campus for at least 3 years, which can be a bummer if you get stuck in the dorms, but there are really nice apartments and houses on campus, too. The dorms aren't the nicest, and they tend to be loud and smell of alcohol and pot, but then again, most dorms probably do. There's ALWAYS something to do on campus. The schedule is insanely packed. There are loads of speakers, concerts, performances, clubs, sports, and just about anything else you could imagine. In fact, it can be quite overwhelming because there's just too much to do and so little time!

CC is the perfect sized school because it forces you to meet ppl. outside of your circle of friends. For example, our hockey team which is generally top 10 in the country are a tight-knit group, but not in the same way I have experienced sports teams at other schools. They are always out and about hanging out with students of all types on campus. The notion of exclusivity really doesn't apply to Colorado College. It is a very inclusive place with lots of outgoing friendly people. Most people after class when its nice out hang out on the fields or in the quad near the dorms playing beach volleyball, football, or the ever-popular campus golf (golf club and a tennis ball with a random targer as the hole). The hockey team is definately at the epicenter of our school pride and CC - DU games are always rowdy and fun.

the best thing about colorado college are the professors and classes. they are interesting and engaging most of the time. the professors know you on a personal basis by the end of the first week and take an interest in you. the more effort you give for them, the more they will give for you. i would change the housing situation and the class selection methods. I feel that if i want to take a class i should be able to take it without 'bidding' points on them and not being sure if i will get into the class. For required introductory and prerequisite courses, i think they should be offered every block since many people need to take them, and it can be very difficult trying to get into the classes you need if they are popular. I think the school size is just right. While the population is not very large, I do not know everyone on campus and only see a small percentage on a regular basis. The campus is a good size. I can walk across campus in 10 minutes, and on the weekends I don't have to drive anywhere because everyone lives within a block or so of the campus. Colorado Springs is not a college town. CC is in a liberal open minded bubble near downtown, and Colorado Springs is quite the opposite. Not a terrible place, but quite mellow. There is a lot of school pride for the hockey team. For the D3 teams there are loyal friends who attend the games on a regular basis. Recent controversies include 'black face' incident, a certain problematic fraternity.

The first thing that attracted me to Colorado College was how nice everyone was. The staff, faculty and students usually have a really pleasant disposition and it’s just great to be in that kind of atmosphere. I was talking to a friend who goes to a really prestigious school on the east coast and he said he really liked it but it was kind of a sink or swim atmosphere where the administration didn’t really seem to personally care about their students. I would say is the opposite of CC. If I have an issue I have no problem finding a staff or faculty member I can turn to. I would say the motto I’ve attributed to CC is work hard, play hard. And I don’t just mean partying in the stereotypical college sense. The people at CC have such a sense of adventure that after three and a half weeks of intense studying on the block plan many people just get off campus for block break and go adventuring. I’ve seen more of Colorado and the surrounding area since I’ve been at CC than growing up in Colorado my entire life. I think part of the reason everyone goes off campus for block breaks though is because living in Colorado Springs can be kind of stifling. And I’m not really referring to our ‘strained relationship between the college and the city’ but rather the lack of public transportation. Without a car it’s hard to get off campus and there really isn’t much to do in Colorado Springs, it’s kind of the perfect example of a bad urban sprawl. Not very many people know about CC but I think that’s quickly changing and when people have heard of CC they always respond in the same way, “Good for you.” There have been a lot of controversies recently and the administration does a good job of trying to cover it up but I would say that a lot of it has been blown out of proportion. I am not a huge fan of President Dick Celeste and his administration because I feel like they are changing part of what makes CC a great place to be. It’s hard to put my finger on what that is but I have definitely seen a change in my three years at the school as Celeste is hoping to increase our number in the rankings. It’s becoming more like an east coast school and no offense to you east-coasters, but there is a reason I didn’t go to school out there. There isn’t a lot of school pride in the traditional sport-related sense (except, of course, when it comes to our superb hockey team) but I think many of the students and faculty just love CC. There have been times I’ve been so fed up with the school but after going abroad to a different university I’ve realized how lucky I am to go to CC and how much I truly do love the school. There is definitely a reason our retention rate is one of the highest in the country.

the best thing about cc is that everyone has something to be excited about, it's incredible to be surrounded by that kind of energy for four years. anyone i ever met who graduated from cc was always so excited to hear that i went there too and would ask me about professors or students i might know from my time there. i spent the majority of my time outside with friends, facilitated by the block plan, because everyone's in class at the same time and get out at the same time. except of course when you're in a really hard block, then you spend most of your time in the library, but no matter how hard, 3.5 weeks will be over soon, and when you spend every waking hour with the same kids from that class, new friends are inevitable. controversies are inevitable as well, but i don't think they reflect the big picture, i think they are a result of more localized issues/confusion/frustration.

The one thing that I would change about CC would be its diversity in terms of race. Most of the students who attend CC come from wealthy families. So, people get along really well because they have been raised in similar conditions (from the surburbs of big cities). However, CC lacks significant diversity in ethnicity. At CC, I would say there are no more than 50 African American/Africans. At the same time there aren't many other ethnicities in the majority other than Caucasians. Even though there is an big gap in diversity, people get along well because they come from similar conditions. Another thing that puts a damper at CC is the lack of transportation in the Colorado Springs area. It is very difficult to make a trip to Denver or Boulder if one does not have a car. However, people with cars are very generous in giving people rides for a buck or two for gas.

Colorado College is awesome. If you like the idea of the block plan and you think it will work for you, this is the only place to go to school. The size, even though it sounds small, seems surprisingly large when you're in it. I was still meeting new people up until the day I graduated. When I tell people I just graduated from CC, if they know anything about it, you can tell right off the bat they're jealous. Students at CC learn more, do more, and have way more fun than any other school in the country. It is an incredible school in the even more incredible Rocky Mountain West, and if you're lucky enough to get in you should go! Or at least visit and try it out. I will never trade my years there for anything. I met more interesting and amazing people there than anywhere else. I learned more, tried more new things, and grew more than anywhere else either. One of my favorite things is the strong bond between students and professors. You really get to know teachers since they take the classes out to breakfast in their homes, do barbeques, spend time at Baca and the Cabin, etc. Basically, CC is awesome.