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<p>trollnyc, you certainly are aptly named and you also seem to have a certain axe to grind re: UChicago. I will leave it to you to work out whatever problems you have with Hyde Park.</p>
<p>re: Stanford, I have many friends who’ve gone to Stanford and they’ve been bright and hard working students. Does that mean that Stanford cultivates a similar approach to scholarship as Chicago? Not by a long shot. They are very different places and very different schools. </p>
<p>UChicago is a VERY intense, almost single-minded institution. The pursuit of ideas and theory has a central role in how Chicago defines itself. Have you ever heard of a “Stanford school of ______”? Probably not. But I am sure that you have heard of the Chicago school of Economics, the Chicago school of Sociology, the Committee on Social Thought, the Chicago school of Law and Economics, etc. </p>
<p>Why is this? Simply put, UChicago is a place dedicated to ideas. It is a place that encourages you to have discourse with these ideas, to respect the cultivation of these ideas, to receive joy, jouissance, from the play of ideas. This is what defines UChicago, in ideal, if not always in practice. </p>
<p>Like I said, Stanford is an amazing school. It’s just a very different place from UChicago with a very different set of educational imperatives. I hope that you will find it as fulfilling as I did.</p>