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Sounds like you have many high-achieving friends? Good for you! 
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<p>I often recommend LACs to international students who do not have the resources to pay for an American education on their own and not the profile to get accepted to the top private universities. LACs give financial aid to somewhat “weaker” international applicants than the top universities, but LACs have other disadvantages: they enjoy zero name recognition outside of the US, rather little within the US and you aren’t getting any “practical/marketable” education either. If, next April, you are in the lucky position to choose between LACs and universities, do keep in mind that you might have more options coming out of a prestigious university than coming out a LAC. </p>
<p>(I went to Bryn Mawr, one of the better LACs. Most of my international friends went to grad school because they were unable to find a job in the US or at home or anywhere else in the world. I also had some international friends at the University of Pennsylvania, and they each had several well-paying job offers to choose from. One of the most frustrating moment in my LAC career happened when I went to a “how to interview for a job in consulting” workshop hosted by our career development office. At the end of the workshop, a student asked the presenter if his company offered internships or entry-level positions. His response: “Yes, but we hire exclusively from Princeton and Wharton.” Now that I have an @stanford.edu email address, I am being recruited by companies who would have not even read my application before…)</p>