I’m very fond of the saying there are many roads to Dublin, and this definitely seems like a case where the roads can be different but in some ways parallel–bigger LAC with lots of faculty research? Mid-sized research university with a lot of support for undergraduate research? Both sound promising to me, and I can definitely see either (or both, or neither) making sense for a given kid.
To the OP’s point, though, I think for various reasons that International students may not realize how robust some of these roads can be in the United States. Indeed, I would again suggest this is true even for US applicants. Meaning I think there are a lot of US families who know about some big public universities, and maybe know something about the most famous private universities, but generally don’t know much about the many highly-selective LACs and not-quite-so-famous-among-the-general-public universities that might be pretty good roads for some students.
Of course people in, say, academia know all about those schools. So do many people who are making hiring decisions for very selective employers. But it is actually quite understandable why until you get seriously involved in the US college selection process, you might not be such a person.