The Ivies are not just a collection of intimidating-looking old Gothic buildings filled with collar-popping prepsters, but a ring of prestigious and highly-competitive American schools, known to be the training grounds for future big-wigs and money-makers in areas from law, finance, politics, and medicine. Based in the Northeast, the roster reads eight institutions strong– including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, U Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, and Cornell. With a history of producing prominent figures like company executives and US Presidents, being an alma matter of one of these schools almost guarantees a slot in the professional career of your choice.

On the opposite spectrum, liberal arts schools are well-known being home to budding baby hipsters– where they cultivate artistic and musical talents and exit as throngs of seasoned indie bands. However, in recent years, the music scene has been introduced to an unexpected line-up of Ivy Leaguers, proving that there’s more attitude to these high-achievers than their polished exteriors may let on. psychoPEDIA takes a look at four of the stand-out Ivy-bourne rockers that chose a different path from their co-ed counterparts:

Vampire Weekend
Perhaps the most recognizable post-collegiate faces in music currently, the four Columbia grads that make up Vampire Weekend– Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmangli, Chris Tomson and Chris Baio– went from majors in English, Russian, Regional Studies, and Music to creating retro and African-infused pop and gracing the cover of Spin. Undergrad suitemates, Koenig and Baio—who later met Batmanglij and Thomson—found that they shared much more in common than a room and a penchant for Polo, and came together in 2006 to form their current band. Even before the release of their self-titled album on XL Recordings earlier this year, the band already garnered quite a following that exceeded their campus groupies. From using a photograph of one of their first performances at Columbia as their album cover, titling some of their first singles “Oxford Comma” and “Mansard Roof,” and making copious academic references in their lyrics, the group have more than kept their Ivy-status intact.

Bishop Allen
This Brooklyn-based band, comprised of core members Justin Rice and Christian Rudder, arose from behind the stately gates of the Harvard campus. Beginning with projects including their first musical venture, a punk band named The Pissed Officers, and a Devo tribute band, the duo eventually evolved into their current happy-go-lucky folk acoustic sound. The two self-released their home-recorded first album, Charm School, and cite fellow Harvard colleague and Cambridge roommate, film director Andrew Bujalski (of whose films both have appeared in), with providing their name. While the two have made a name in the music world, the former comparative literature and math majors’s Ivy-bred talents don’t stop there, as Rudder acted as one of the original forces behind the popular literature reference site SparkNotes and dating site OK Cupid, while Rice had a hand in directing the 1999 Bob Dylan documentary, Look Back, Don’t Look Back. Staying busy with an extensive tour schedule beginning this November, the duo will also be making yet another film appearance, as themselves, in the upcoming Michael Cera comedy, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.

Chester French
These days, Chester French might be better known for its member Max Drummey’s recent marriage to mega-socialiate Peaches Geldof. But there’s more to these Harvard-educated musicians than tabloid-fodder, as this Cambridge-based band– Drummey and D.A. Wallach– even turned down offers from producers Kanye West and Jermaine Dupri to sign with Pharrell Williams’ Star Trak label to release their first album. Although they sing about cute girls in Jimmy Choos in their 50s-infused-and Jimmy Cash-like pop tracks, the two show off their book-smarts by naming themselves after the sculptor Daniel Chester French, who created both the emblematic John Harvard statue as well as the famous Lincoln Memorial. Making a leap from Social Anthropology and Africana Studies, respectively, the recent buzz surrounding this duo has them landing on gossip blogs like Perez Hilton to the pages of countless music magazines.

Menomena
It’s easy to see that member of the Portland band Menomena, Brent Knopf, is an educated bookworm thanks to his quirky love of wordplay. As the band’s name is a manipulation of the two words “men” and “phenomena” and first album I Am the Fun Blame Monster acting as an anagram for “This First Menomena Album,” one might also think that this musician spends too much time on the brain games in the Sunday paper. In actuality, this Dartmouth grad, upon returning to his Oregon home, started the indie rock trio with musician friends Danny Seim and Justin Harris, who have since gone on to release two more progressively experimental albums, Under an Hour and Friend and Foe. So while their name and image might offer Ivy attitude, they depart from the stereotypical in their music, as besides being known for their unorthodox sound, the band is also prone to incorporate intricate elements including interpretive dance and performance art in their live shows.