^Well, people that choose LACs are the very types that would want to go to grad schools anyway. That’s why the absence of pre-professional programs and name recognition don’t stop them from choosing LACs at the first place. The LACs are gonna rank high in any field for this kind of stats.
Why don’t we look at this list of NSF fellowship awardees:
https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/grfp/AwardeeList.do?method=loadAwardeeList
Among the LACs, Amherst is not as well represented as its peers or ones considered a notch below. It’s not a surprise to me because I considered LACs before and intended to major in natural sciences. It’s pretty cool to see the only two LACs I applied - Carleton and Oberlin are well represented.
Among the private universities, Northwestern is pretty well represented both as an undergrad institution (where the recipients went) and “current” institution (where the recipients currently pursue their graduate studies).