what is “overwhelmingly intellectual”? I know there are some schools like Brown (this one is surprisingly less pre-professional than other Ivies) known for snobby intellectualism (and some people really don’t like that), but most other schools with more apparent intellectual atmospheres are simply known for having larger numbers of undergraduates attend speaking events (successful Tedx events for example that have a UG/student component incorporated), and other intellectually related events on campus without a grade incentive (IE, there is less need to reach out because it is a natural disposition among a larger chunk). They also develop many more traditions that air on the nerdier side of things. They are also known for spontaneity of things like random acts of theater (plays) breaking out in relatively public venue (like a lawn). I wouldn’t consider it overwhelming. It is just a matter of fact that such expressions are more normalized on such campuses. MIT has its “hacking” culture (where one time they managed to get a firetruck on top of a building somehow). Basically at these campuses, they party, but also have interesting traditions to I guess strut their intelligence or nerdy side in a fun way (MIT also has a day where they apparently build things like slides and stuff). Both Harvard and MIT have their housing culture (for sophomores at H, it is more like the Housing games) traditions which often result in each hall making sometimes over the top but amazing videos that show off their residence halls (basically advertisements).
It manifests itself in different ways at different schools in many informal ways which is I guess expected at all of these schools full of smart folks (sometimes having fun involves activities that use your brain, whether you are completely sober or not). At my school, we even had(it still has it) some weird traditions on the brainier side. At many schools, “intellectualism” can manifest itself as entrepreneurship (as it does at Stanford and many other schools) as well. There are so many different forms of it that no one should be particularly uncomfortable with it being integrated with or even taking away from the traditional “work hard, play hard” culture that basically all these places claim to have. If anything, it makes social life and campus life a little more varied and random at times. I guess at a lot of schools, the nerdy (I am not using this as derogatory here, in fact the opposite) side of the school is just more “in your face” and again, doesn’t need discovery or isn’t something you stumble upon fortuitously.