Speaking from experience, I had never heard of ANY LAC 6 years ago (when I was a high school junior), or I just wasn't fine-tuned to pay attention whenever they came up. I remember one day when I got a brochure from Reed and Stanford, and I threw the Reed one away, thinking they were some community college. Similar stories with other brochures I got from LACs, while my heart would light up in getting something from a famous college. For shame. If my English teacher hadn't told me about LACs in the start of my senior year, I would have never applied to them. I think that's the reality- they're virtually non-existent in the eyes of most high school students. If there is no external force to challenge that (or if the narrative overheard is predominantly negative, which is definitely happening in this politically charged landscape), it is unlikely that students (myself included) will do their own research to correct misconceptions/fallacies about LACs.