Having observed my DD in many settings with an eye towards advising her on college fit, I observe the following:
- In a small pond, she does better as a smaller fish. If she’s clearly among the least able (from lack of exposure or lack of natural ability) in a small-group environment, she will work her tail off to catch up. If she’s towards the top, she will do the minimum required to keep out of trouble and not one bit more.
- In a large pond, she does better as a larger fish. In a big anonymous group, if she feels competent initially, she’ll do her own thing to her own high standards regardless of what everyone else is doing. If she doesn’t feel competent initially, she will walk away rather than fight for it.
- She does very well in an environment where everyone works hard to improve themselves but no one cares how anyone else does, even if she is a low performer. She does very poorly when participants complete against each other, even when she is a high performer.
My guess is that if she knew with great certainty what she’d major in, and had some exposure to the topic prior to college, she’d do fine in a big public school. But if she had no idea at all, and it might be something entirely new to her or that she had less natural inclination for, she would do better at a smaller school with more personal attention and support.