Arrgh- the concept of “nurturing” at a LAC. Good grief- need remedial hand holding by the time they are college age??? Guess I’m used to independent people. Large schools are composed of many smaller groupings just like big cities have many neighborhoods. But, I guess people at those small schools have self selected for those like themselves and avoid being exposed to others who are so unlike them they are eye openers.
Question- does the student want many others with similar interests to interact with? With the exception of some tech specific schools most colleges/universities with good engineering programs also have plenty of others with diverse interests around but also plenty of others with the same interests. People are multifaceted and it is nice to run into many more in different classes than the same small cadre in all of one’s STEM classes. Given the many engineering majors there would also likely be more than one or two with the exact major.