I couldn’t afford for either of my boys to apply to 34 schools…
@NCMom14, both my boys attend LACS and really have found them to be a nice fit. My older son attends Hampshire College, which is part of the consortium that includes Amherst College, UMass, etc. He’s really taken advantage of the consortium - the only school he’s not had a class is Smith. The consortium, as others have said, really does offer the best of all worlds. That said, all LACS have different personalities. My younger son attends Bates but wouldn’t have liked Amherst - it just wasn’t a fit for him. It would be important to clarify why his GC thinks a LAC would be best and then to visit if you can.