<p>“Maybe my greatest issue is simply that Carleton doesn’t think it knows more than I do about what I should know.” I would guess that faculty at Carleton have very strong opinions about many things that it would be very valuable for you to know. But they probably also understand that you can’t possibly learn more than a small fraction of those things in your 4 years at Carleton. There is too much out there. I doubt that the faculty at Chicago believes that the core curriculm there is transmitting to students all that they “should know.” It’s just a taste, which it sounds like you have gotten in a possibly less coherent fashion at Carleton. But knowledge is not organized coherently out in the world, you have to sort it out, so maybe what Carleton does teaches you something about doing that. There is no spoon feeding outside of the academy. The most valuable education you can get is one that gives you the tools–critical reading and thinking skills and a love of learning–to be a life long learner.</p>