<p>I would say that for the motivated student it does not matter which university you attend. From my experience, I'm an incoming sophomore at Vandy who's doing research in CS while my girlfriend's doing research in genetics. Neither of us are involved in Greek life, drink at all, dress up for class (heck I've seen a few girls in PJs), or are very Southern especially (I'm from California, even). We have a large group of friends who are pretty much like us, although I see what you're saying about some of the students. There are research and medical opportunities at Vanderbilt, tough courses (premed always is), generally no grade inflation (but no deflation as well), and good acceptance to med school.</p>