IMO, UC instructors still expect their students to be engaged and interested in the subject matter. My own two are not “meritocrats” and they really enjoy the intellectual experience and the company of similarly-engaged friends and housemates. No doubt there are a greater number who view the education at UC to be but a stepping-stone to top jobs and grad programs. That’s probably inevitable now. But it’s not like those guys didn’t exist back in the days when you had no choice but to attend due to “true disinterested intellectual attainment” (because career placement was really sucky) - they were on campus all right. Complaining that they didn’t get into Harvard or Princeton. Edit to add: up to a third of the undergraduate population consisted of these types around the '80’s or '90’s.