I don't know if that is necessarily true. At least amongst my peer group, men would place a high weight on non academic factors in university choice. As long as the the university offered a course they wanted and had enough prestige to match their perceived social standing and families expectations factors like distance from home, cost of living , party reputation and where their friends were going were the big factors.

From my recollection the women tended to be more conscientious about their studies too and often had added pressure from being the first woman in their immediate family to have attended higher education.