It’s true that Vanderbilt does have lots of people involved in Greek life, but as a commenter mentioned, it’s very regulated by the administration, and Vandy’s Greek life is hardly comparable to those at bigger state schools. Greek life is an easy way to expand your social circle, but it’s not the only way. Greek life can seem a ~bit~ polarizing during recruitment season, formals, frat parties (for non-Greek guys) etc, but apart from that, there isn’t much of a social barrier because you always get to interact with different people through classes, student organizations, and residential halls, especially Commons and other living-learning communities. People have friends both in and out of Greek life because we’re all Vandy students after all and have much in common.
As for academic and intellectual community, Vandy does follow its work hard, play hard motto quite well, so even though we may not have an overwhelmingly “intellectual atmosphere”, I don’t think that’s a detriment. There are tons of events on campus, from discussions on effective altruism to financial markets, from cultural identity to free speech, all facilitated by students and notable guest speakers such as Nobel prize winning economists to eminent journalists. The Speakers Committee is getting Spike Lee, activists from BLM, and John Boehner all within the same week in March, and such events help students like me learn more about the world from different, even polar opposite perspectives, and have meaningful discussions with peers. These can happen in a casual setting too. My former roommate loves politics, and her enthusiasm encouraged me to explore it more deeply than I had before. We often had discussions/debates about it with a few of my hall-mates at 1 am at night! My current roommate is a music minor, and through her (and Blair) I have been able to learn so much more about classical music, its techniques, history, and influence in a way I hadn’t when I took piano lessons.
It may seem that parties dominate the social scene, but if you’re looking for a veritable intellectual conversation, it’s right there. Sometimes you need to take an extra step and reach out to people, but it’s all right there: people in your classes, students orgs, hall-mates, and professors. I understand that it may seem that all anyone cares about is grades and not really enjoying the academic material, but that’s a very superficial and hasty way of judging all Vandy students. I completely agree with @bud123 when he/she says that being preprofessional or career oriented and intellectual are not mutually exclusive.