<p>This does seem cheeky and contrived. None of that is really answerable, you know that right (seriously, percentage of partiers of varying degrees?) ? And also, Duke and Notre Dame would be considered very similar environments. It has nothing to do with degrees of brilliance and more so campus culture and atmosphere (also, if you were actually serious about this, you’re forgetting that some institutions are more academically intense than others and thus at the more intense schools, you’re going to draw the bookworms who don’t mind it as much or could handle it w/o feeling like their social life is in jeopardy. Many top students actually enjoy a high level of intensity. Hard to believe, isn’t it?). Some bright people love to party and are less focused on high levels of academic engagement beyond earning a grade (they use their brilliance for more or less pragmatic purposes more than they do for mere “interest” or curiosity) and some very bright people like to be more engaged academically (displays and uses brilliance at random and very often for purposes that are less pragmatic). The schools’ cultures differ in what type of “brilliant” students they draw. Vanderbilt’s bright students students seem more rounded I guess whereas those at many of the others are more bookwormish (they like to party every now and then and plenty of the student body indeed does it frequently, but it is not perfectly balanced with academics). Nothing wrong with either type of school in my opinion. Depends on you.</p>
<p>As for the caricature, it does seem odd and far from the truth since the regional demographics of the school have changed so much. In addition, you would probably be caricaturing several other elite schools that ever had a more “southern” feel such as Virginia, Chapel Hill, etc. It’s not really fair to single one school out.</p>