I've got the feeling that Derek will drop out, not because he's not smart (even Cathy admits that he's intelligent when he wants to be) but because he doesn't know what he want to do and he's only at B&R to support Maya. He'd seem like someone who would go around from manual labor to manual labor and earn good money that way, simply because he heavily underestimates his intelligence.
I think you are completely off point with this. Cathy didn't say that he was just intelligent, she said that he was one of the best students. That's a lot bigger. Yes, he doesn't know what he wants to do academically, but what he did want, beyond supporting Maya (which she still needs), is partying, being a DIK, and having fun, which he is doing. He event talked to Tremolo not to quit, and that things will get better with the DIKs. I have absolutely no hint of him leaving, now that he is in the frat. He's a bit hung up on Ashley, but that might be going his way, and he denied it being "love." He didn't get Cammy because he was so obviously hung up on Ash. Once they either get together, or he gets over her, he'll be back to himself.
The nature of his trauma is home. His dad being abusive and controlling to Maya, his Mom with a degenerative chronic disease that also affects her behavior. Why would he leave school, where he presumably makes bank selling his cheats, has a much bigger social support system, and access to parties, to go home? He'd have to go home, even if briefly, to get a job if nothing else, before he could support himself. He'd also be leaving Maya behind, which he'd never do.
