<p>Interesting discussion. Here are a couple of reports from D who graduated in 2013 from a BS of 800, and who is now 2017 at a 4000 student LAC. </p>
<p>Even a small LAC is different from BS - more freedom, more responsibility for your own time management, less structure. She is loving the expanded horizons.<br>
Atmosphere means a lot - if you want to party, don’t go to a non-party school, and visa versa even more so (she picked a dry, which really means “damp” college, and likes the resulting atmosphere).<br>
Pick a place that has the academics you want, don’t compromise if you don’t have to.<br>
There is a social life where you find it.<br>
30 minutes away from a large city is a 30 minute bus ride. </p>
<p>What we saw as she went through college application processes - the most interesting large schools were those who broke the immense student body into smaller communities - Check out Southern Illinois University (I may be garbleing the name) - very clear in the marketing materials that they are trying to give a student the best of both worlds - big school opportunities, small school community. My nephew toured University of Colorado at Boulder for engineering - same plan. </p>
<p>Rambling a bit here, but really liked the thoughts on this thread, so wanted to jump in.</p>