A family member has made their career in large state flagship. They are an alum of a LAC. Their comment is that a “student entrepreneur”, the kid who is able to identify resources and get them, will have boundless opportunities at a large public. They have also noted that there are students who want to work the system but don’t know how as well as students who really need someone to reach out to them and take the initiative on thinking about and executing on opportunities.
LACs, for the most part, make it possible, even easy, for any student to engage and capitalize on what the school offers.
So the people who talk about their kids thriving at large schools? They’re telling their truth. The people who talk about smaller schools making lots of opportunities available to their students and even encouraging them? They are also telling their truth, and one that might resound with the kids who aren’t student entrepreneurs.