I think the issue becomes one if one’s tribe is very small. Or so small that it doesn’t allow for much choice or options within it.
At a school that is small and isolated, the dominant culture DOES matter, unless you’re that kid entirely happy living outside of it. Some are. Many are not.
I know kids who were merely social (vs hard partiers) who have been miserable at party schools and transferred as well as kids who have been very happy at those same schools.
Personally, I think it’s helpful for kids to understand the social milieu at a school and to think through how it would work for them. And smart and accomplished doesn’t mean not partying, btw.