As someone who's almost completely settled on Melbourne but considering aspects of Monash, would it be fair to say that the working environments for Arts at the two schools would be very different?
My logic is that all Arts students at Melbourne would be very much liberal arts focused and genuinely passionate about undertaking the subjects that they are doing, whilst at Monash, this would still exist, however a large portion of the Arts students would be people doing Commerce and Law who are only doing Arts as part of a double degree to avoid boredom or expand their career scope?
Those generalisations are often actually rather silly. Its sort of like people saying that RMIT is heaps more hands on than any other uni (partially true i guess). It might seem like it from the outside looking in but it isn't like that in reality. I dont think the prime reason for your choice should be what the other students are like. It'll be a mix of what you say, its not a comical kind of caricature or anything haha.
They both require very similar (or the same) ATARs. They both have their respective experts, monash has nick economou who is pretty well regarded in the study of politics, graeme oppy for philosophy, ect. They both have their fair share of famous faces. They're both well respected GO8 uni's. Theres no real tie breaker here except distance or any particular variations on programs one may or may not offer.
Theres absolutely plenty of people at monash doing straight BA, so, i don't know where you got that idea from.
If they're doing arts to avoid boredom or just fill up their room, they wont have a great time. It's not an easy thing to slog through if you dont care, hell, id argue science is a lot easier for that kind of thing.
They're both pretty much the same. Just look for little tie-breaks or variations in programs as sweeteners. Failing that distance/facilities (eg. having doctors/chaplains/career counsellors/student run library/whatever takes your fancy)/clubs/any academics you might be interested in/ect...
Theres a general consensus that Clayton is better [than caufield]. For most of my subjects the lecturers seemed to of hop between the campuses anyway.