We are many years from college decisions so I have little to add. But here is one important point re larger schools: to avoid huge freshman/sophomore classes, look for schools that have honors and "majors only" classes. We visited a large public university's open house this weekend (my alma mater) and I was reminded that my freshman classes were all very small because I took only honors and (chemistry) majors-only classes. They still have this school-within-a-school option and it provides an awesome best of both worlds experience.