Kasha,
Every single one of the gedolim I mentioned was a brilliant talmid chacham BEFORE going to university. Rav Soloveitchik was a charedi gedol before he was a mizrachi gedol: He was a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel of America while still in his thirties — and while teaching philosophy at Yeshiva College.
And as I pointed out, Rav Moshe was extraordinarily humble. He had enormous secular knowledge that you don’t get without effort.