<p>If you want to make finer distinctions within the stateuniversity SAT list (or within the US News top N) with respect to intellectual atmosphere (or something like that), you might want to have a look not at other selection metrics but at outcome metrics. What percentage of the student body goes on to graduate school? What percentage actually complete law school, med school, or PhD programs? What percentage enter the Peace Corps or Teach for America? What percentage goes into investment banking and business consulting? etc.</p>
<p>Schools that often are described as very rigorous and academically intense include Swarthmore, Reed, Carleton, and the University of Chicago. Alumni of all 4 earn PhDs at very high rates. Alumni of all 4 also have high to very high rates of Peace Corps service. UPenn, by contrast, sometimes is described as having a relatively “pre-professional” orientation. Its PhD and Peace Corps numbers are lower than Chicago’s etc. However, Penn/Wharton has a relatively high rate of recruitment into major investment banking and business consulting firms. I would not necessarily conclude that Penn is any more or less “intense” than Chicago/Swat/Carleton/Reed, but the numbers may indicate a difference in orientation that the OP would care about.</p>
<p>Washington Monthly tracks PhD production and Peace Corps participation rates for both LACs and national universities.
<a href=“http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/rankings_2013/national_university_rank.php”>http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/rankings_2013/national_university_rank.php</a></p>