Should one pick a college for its wholesomeness or for major strength

Ok. “Wholesome” has a certain connotation of good health and well being, sometimes in a goody two shoes clean living way. So that is not what you meant. You meant looking at the whole package (holistically?).

I wouldn’t let my kid go to a school that wasn’t solid in their planned major and any backup major they had expressed interest in. But I would not force them to go to the highest ranked school they got into (and neither of them did). Solid in major, good fit in size and location and campus vibe, and cost are factors we paid a lot of attention to. So yes, it was a fairly holistic viewpoint, but not all factors were weighted equally.