Counterpoint to all the hate on small. My major had 12 students in it and I loved it for that. We knew each other fairly well like colleagues, brainstormed on each others research topics and interests, we all got to do a short speech at departmental graduation. It was interdisciplinary, so we did classes with others as well. But I thrived in the small of it and was far more engaged than I think I would have been in a huge major where nobody knew me. I felt the good pressure to not come to class not knowing what was going on because I didn’t read. Certainly not for everyone, but there lots of people who thrive in the small as well.
Also, while there are a lot of rural or isolated small schools, that is not a feature of small schools so it is odd that folks are conflating the stuck in a small rural town piece with small schools. Off the top of my head, Occidental, Reed, Lewis&Clark, Whittier, Macalaster, Sarah Lawrence, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, Barnard, Wellesley, Agnes Scott, Spelman, Morehouse, Cal Tech are all in cities or in close suburbs to major cities with plenty to do. Not to mention the other colleges many of them have around for students to interact with. Being in the middle of nowhere has its own issues. And a small college in the middle of nowhere brings its challenges for sure. But that is not a small college issue.