My youngest is finishing their freshman year at BCHS. (My oldest is a senior at BHS who took the IB/AP/DC path. Happy to talk about that path as well if you're considering it).

Both in absolute and relative terms, BCHS is a wonderful place. It's an academically healthy environment for students. It's not a place where there's unhealthy pressure for perfection or where students to live to bump one another off in class rank. There's healthy pressure to succeed in that if students are missing work, they have to go to tutorials to complete the work instead of getting to go to their in-school clubs (board games, knitting, gardening, soccer, etc). There's a no-zero policy, which means you go to tutorials until the work is finished.

The school runs on a block schedule, where there's 4 M/W classes and 4 T/R classes. Fridays are 6 brief classes and dismissal after lunch. This is great because it gives the teachers time to do the lesson, give an assignment and help in the classroom. My child rarely has daily homework because he often completes it during class time.

While he doesn't have daily homework, there's usually a longer-term project he works on at home in the evenings. The teachers definitely put in efforts to design projects that are more engaging than writing papers or giving tests. Recently, my child designed a game and hosted it at a booth during his math class's probability carnival. He also make a google tour presentation of places where the main characters traveled in Around the World in 80 Days. (Other freshman required novels are Jurassic Park and To Kill a Mockingbird.)

Work/life balance is definitely doable. My son has time to be a teenager in a way that my oldest hasn't due to her being saddled with busy work or attending private tutoring because her teachers can't or won't teach. I'd estimate my youngest spends about 1 hour a day doing out-of-class school-related stuff.

The teachers clearly love what they do both in terms of providing education AND mentoring to the students. It's clear also that faculty have a supportive relationship with school admin, which makes a HUGE difference compared to BHS. The principal is also communicative with parents about opportunities to get involved with school and I feel welcome on campus at BCHS that I don't feel at BHS.

Finally, what I value most about my youngest's experience at BCHS is that level of independence he's had since day 1. I don't mean that the school is a free-for-all. I mean that he is learning how to handle having choices and being responsible for making decisions that are right for him. The decisions might seem small like whether to take a test on a computer versus paper & pencil, but I appreciate that the adults at this school trust and respect their students instead of micromanaging their academic lives.

10/10 recommend. If you want to follow up away from the board: username@aggienetwork

I taught at Collegiate last year and can't say enough good things about the staff I worked with. Tommy Roberts is an amazing educator and principle who has worked at every level in that school.
It does have some quirks compared to the average high school (limited athletics/ extra circulars) but the opportunity it affords its students is hard to beat. Yeah, it's an adjustment for the kids going from 8th grade to then being in a college class as a freshman in high school, but the support structure is there on multiple levels: peer to peer, dedicated faculty to help them succeed, and the culture in general. I know of multiple students who graduated from collegiate and started as juniors/upper level students in college with no debt to that point and the experience already in hand.
Any experience is what you (or your kid) makes it, but I loved working in that environment. I left to attend physical therapy school, but Collegiate is a great place and I miss working there.