<p>I suppose, also, that a lot of one’s experience of a university is based on what one does there, rather than one’s expectations. That is, instead of seeing UChicago as a place that where intellectual conversation simply happens, I only hope it is a place where I can put a certain amount of intellectual intensity into my environment and get a commensurate response. I want to be able to indulge (and improve!) myself by spending socially inappropriate amounts of time in the library, or by engaging others in genuine and unselfconscious ‘intellectual’ conversations - I only require that I can do that kind of thing constructively at the University, not that all (or many) of my peers share my wishes.</p>
<p>Is this a more reasonable expectation than assuming that analysing Kierkegaard at 3 AM is a regular activity?</p>