<p>Taptap:</p>
<p>Sorry for overtaking this post, but I think it actually serves as a pretty good representation of thought/discourse on the ground at UChicago. The school engages in a lot of navel-gazing, and I’d imagine that, at UChicago, students entertain and explore questions such as “what is UChicago’s mission? What is its purpose?” much more so than at other schools.</p>
<p>Put another way, if you asked a Penn student (or maybe a Wash U student?), the same questions (“what’s Penn’s purpose?”) you might get blank stares, or the discourse probably wouldn’t be as robust. That’s not to say these other schools aren’t engaged in thinking about these questions (they are), but, as you’ve seen here, UChicago students (or affiliated parties, it seems) tend to self-examine and self-analyze (and navel gaze, and occasionally exhibit angst) more often than most (even very accomplished) 18 - 22 year olds. </p>
<p>Couple all this with the fact the school has undergone more transition than any of its peers in the past 5 years, and you’re bound to get a lot of conversation.</p>