Agree 100%. But I have also seen a different type of student thriving at large flagships- let’s call them the “alert and attentives”. Not so much entrepreneurs- they aren’t seeking out, but they respond. Professor announces “If you have experience coding in R, I’ve got a spot on my research team, so stay after lecture to talk to me”. Student does not have experience in R, but DOES have experience with other statistical packages and has worked with large datasets so student gets the research spot since she’s the only one who stayed after class.
And of course- the students at small colleges who pretty much want their ticket punched. They aren’t seeking extra enrichment. They aren’t seeking to be inspired and have their worldviews expand. They want their A and they want their frat (or their friends) and they want their Spring Break, and since Mom and Dad are happy to pay for it, why upset the apple cart?
I was at a relative’s commencement from a super large state flagship- and yes, the university wide ceremony was at the football stadium with tens of thousands of people and the tiny dots of the graduates on the jumbotron. But the departmental ceremony had faculty jumping up to embrace students, the Dean cheering (loudly) for every award winner, emeritus faculty who insisted on individual photos with students they had taught as freshman. These students were not all the “entrepreneurs” (certainly my relative was not). But these were students who took the ball and ran with it when someone handed it to them, even if they weren’t actually seeking to become stars.