I agree, but I'd add one thing. In addition to the mediocre and unmotivated students, there is a depressing number of motivated but somewhat unprepared student

I agree, but I'd add one thing. In addition to the mediocre and unmotivated students, there is a depressing number of motivated but somewhat unprepared students who get crushed as well. I really think a lot of these students would have thrived at a university that was more supportive. I'm not advocating hand holding or coddling, but I do think that impacted majors at very strong public universities aren't really doing right by the talent level they enroll. They do society no favors by enrolling a student who didn't have a strong high school calculus curriculum, giving her a C her first semester, and then telling her that her GPA is too low for engineering now.