@prezbucky : That is how I view it (2 year LAC vs. attached U)…and yes, students are not only disappointed in their acceptance, but usually do initially regret receiving an actual education at first lol. That often requires…you know, deep thinking and hard work, things many high achieving students will admit they never really did in the classroom before college because stuff came naturally and everything was perfectly controlled and coached. A rigorous college education will involve instructors that provide guidance but do not spoonfeed…goal is to get you to research, think, learn on your own eventually and be able to come up with your own ideas and informed opinions. Often HS just isn’t like this (partly due to rigid standards at many levels of the curriculum as well as the assessments used), so going into an environment that deliberately facilitates it on a large scale and not really expecting it (let us keep it real, at a U, even if the U tries, there is so much flexibility that you coulddodge those experiences as deliberately as the school attempts to provide them and this even goes for places like Emory) could be painful. And then there are location/social effects of being at a smaller school in sort of an exurb or distant suburb.
The benefit of the Oxford education is obvious for perhaps the overwhelming majority of students but it is likely akin to engineering education where many are uncomfortable while actually going through the schooling.
Also, honestly it isn’t like everyone visits Emory for ED…and we need not talk RD.