@ADKParent Some of my favorite small schools are Middlebury, Bates, Bowdoin, Hamilton, Colgate, Bucknell, Clark, Union, Lafayette, Gettysburg, St. Lawrence and Washington & Lee. If Catholic schools are OK, Holy Cross, Providence, Siena, St. Bonaventure, St. Michael’s, Farfield, Scranton, Loyola Maryland and St. Anselm are or structured like LAC’s.
My eldest just graduated from a smallish private LAC with 3000ish students, and she had an awesome 4 years there. She had paid summer research internships all 3 summers, she spent a semester abroad, had a double major, has great close relationships with professors who were able to write great recommendation letters. Career services are excellent, classes are small with lots of discussion, advising was phenomenal.
My second daughter also attends the same school and was concerned it might be too small(the rest of her applications were for much bigger schools), but is so glad she went smaller, the environment is so supportive of students and helping them pursue/find what they are passionate about. Her biggest concern was that it would feel too much like high school, stuck with same students all the time, but the students are very spread out doing different academics, and there are so many different clubs and activities, she is continually meeting new people and forming new friendships.
My husband and I both attended a large public U and loved it, but if I had the opportunity to go back in time and do it all over again, I would go to a small LAC.
I think LACs that are part of a consortium are great because you get a wider variety of classes, increase your opportunities to study and do research with faculty, and have more students with whom you can interact. Besides the consortiums mentioned previously–two others that include excellent small LACs are the
Tri-co/Bi-co (Bryn Mawr/Haverford, Swarthmore) and the Five Colleges (Amherst, Hampshire, Smith, Mt Holyoke, and UMass).
One of the positives of a small LAC is that it is hard to fall between the cracks–profs/deans/advisors generally get to know their students and can be a great resource in many ways. At larger universities students can get this too but IMO the student has to seek it out. That is an important distinction.
Other than the Claremonts, Personally, I’ve never gotten the allure of the consortiums. Besides the logistical hassle of transportation, I just don’t understand why someone would pay Amherst prices to take classes at UMass. Moreover, I would guess that – and its only a guess – that students from other campuses would have to actively “seek out” research and other opportunities at the sister campus, which is not much different than attending a big research U. OTOH, taking classes at New Hamp with their grading scale can be a GPA booster for grad/professional schools. 
When taking an Amherst tour, I remember the student guide waxing eloquently about her roomie who was taking Accounting classes at UMass. I had two immediate reactions: 1) why would you attend an LAC without a business program if you wanted to major in Accounting: 2) the additional costs. (Roomie was a Mass resident.)
And I don’t believe Amherst accepts those credits…
I thought all the consortium colleges accepted each ither’s credits if taken while enrolled at one of the 5. Why do you think they don’t?
@ADKParent, it might be best to start a new thread with more info on your daughter’s stats and interests so we can focus on your question specifically. 
Thank you everyone. This is a good starting place for me. I may start a new thread as suggested, later this month.
Why wait?
I guess you are assuming those students are full pay at Amherst. For a needy family Amherst could be MUCH less expensive than UMass.
There are also courses offered at UMass that aren’t offered at Amherst. For example, one of my kids studied Finnish. They offer some Finnish classes at UMass, and none of the rest of the consortium has them. If you have an area of specialized interest that you want to take a couple of classes in, it could be beneficial.
@ADKParent : Agree with most of the above. A look, on paper, then on the campuses of those that appear promising, at say SLU, Denison, Kenyon, Colby, Colorado College, Bates, Reed, Wesleyan and Hamilton will introduce your daughter to both quintessential, traditional LACs and those that have a bit of creative flair to them.
I think the UMass/Amherst consortium is one of the more unique ones, offering students who want a small school like Amherst the chance to experience the best of the big school (UMass), the ‘uniqueness’ of a school like Hampshire without having to go ‘all in’ for that experience. As intparent points out, the Amherst student has the entire UMass catalog to pick from and maybe the equipment in a lab that the smaller school just can’t offer. Having UMass part of the group made Smith a lot more attractive to me and my daughter.
@intparent I seem to recall that Amherst does not recognize business-related credits.
“Note that while there are many courses offered at the Five Colleges, not all courses offered are accepted for credit at Amherst. Pre-professional and business classes cannot be taken for credit. You can check with your advisor and the registrar for approval before requesting enrollment at the host college or university.”
Heaven forbid that an Amherst grad learn the fundamentals of accounting…
For a brief guide to some beautiful small colleges, this online article is worth a look: “The 30 Best, Most Beautiful Small Colleges in America,” Best Degree Programs.
For another article that includes small colleges, see “The 25 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America,” Thrillist.
Private schools protect their turf… it’s often not easy to take classes at public universities in the summer if you’re at a private during the school year. A relative of mine was at an Ivy, and the ONLY way she could take summer classes at the big U near her home was to find classes unavailable at her school. It wasn’t easy!
Re #73, financial accounting has found its way into the economics offerings at some of the NESCACs, though, as observed, not at Amherst.
S1 attended an LAC for undergrad and a large university for graduate school. He had to take one 300 level class to fill in a gap at the large university and was shocked to find 200 people in the class. He did fine but said he was so glad he was able to have the small class sizes for his undergraduate experience.
@ADKParent - I recommend Kenyon in Ohio
My D attended a relatively selective (30% admission rate) small (2500 students) college last year. Most classes were small, which she liked, and she did get to know her professors. She was offered undergraduate research opportunities and had a 3.875 her first year (taking some intro courses and some 200 level courses). She had an amazing time socially - lots of friends, lots of parties (which apparently did not negatively affect academics).
The problem was that she was not challenged academically. While her classmates looked good on paper (ACT, SAT, GPA, etc), few were motivated. She came from a rigorous secondary school where the emphasis was on thinking - not just memorizing and virtually all of the kids were motivated. She was content where she was - but not challenged. As a result she has transferred to a larger (16,000) university for her sophomore year.
Long story short – size itself is not the best predictor of the quality of education.