Heh, JZL, appealing to my positive experiences at Brandeis won't get you very far.
Not everyone at Brandeis is a morons. The crucial thing isn't that there are more morons at Brandeis than at Chicago -- there are -- but that the culture of learning is qualitatively worse here.
Brandeis is a world class university? Maybe on paper. Yes, if you're pre-med. Maybe in a few other limited fields, like composition. Is Chicago better? Yes, the departments are better. Yes, the aggregate approach to education is better and produces better results.
"Passionate about their intellectual pursuits" means what it sounds like. Maybe you're so cynical about that language because of your experience here, where people ARE cynical and disaffected about learning. If I were talking about Brandeis, it would be empty rhetoric. At Chicago, it's the reality. The people there, at least the ones I talked to, were intenseley involved in their studies. They were true scholars, instead of the second-raters you meet here. Sure, it's possible that all the dipshits took a long vacation for the duration of my visit, but I doubt it.
Chicago isn't right for everyone, but I am deeply convinced that it is right for anyone who takes their undergraduate years seriously and wants to get everything they can out of them. That means being surrounded by people who share those values. It's like the difference between breathing air and breathing smoke. Even if the departments in question are comprable somehow, statistically, or in terms of faculty and placement, the students are not.
I don't know...tetrakarbonJune 30 2005, 19:33:48 UTC
I went to the University of Chicago expecting some amazing utopia of people interested in knowledge because they simply had a desire to know. There are many people like that, but there are others not very interested - smart, perhaps even ambitious, but in the end view college as simply a means to success. However, I think it's likely that the U of C boasts more truely interested students simply because it has a reputation for that kind of environment, which attracts them to here (which is why I came).
Are they smarter than people at Brandeis? I don't know what Kenny wants, but I can tell you that they probably aren't spectacularly more intelligent. But give me a somewhat slower person who cares over a prodigy without interest. At this school, I think there are likely more people in that former vein. (Oh no! Prepositions at the start of a sentence!)
Departments? It's my opinion that the U of C is probably more prestigious in the eyes of those with an eye to rank schools (still, no one on the airplane will know your school). I've always felt that there isn't a huge differential between schools in terms of academics.
For me, it was a question of the people I wanted to be around. I wasn't in love with my HS environment, and it affected my overall happiness. There are other worthy considerations, but I would recommend you go to the school you think you'd be happier at. And I think 90% of that question is who else is going there.
Anyway, good luck making your choice Kenny. I was surprised I haven't heard from you yet about your impressions after the visit here.
Not everyone at Brandeis is a morons. The crucial thing isn't that there are more morons at Brandeis than at Chicago -- there are -- but that the culture of learning is qualitatively worse here.
Brandeis is a world class university? Maybe on paper. Yes, if you're pre-med. Maybe in a few other limited fields, like composition. Is Chicago better? Yes, the departments are better. Yes, the aggregate approach to education is better and produces better results.
"Passionate about their intellectual pursuits" means what it sounds like. Maybe you're so cynical about that language because of your experience here, where people ARE cynical and disaffected about learning. If I were talking about Brandeis, it would be empty rhetoric. At Chicago, it's the reality. The people there, at least the ones I talked to, were intenseley involved in their studies. They were true scholars, instead of the second-raters you meet here. Sure, it's possible that all the dipshits took a long vacation for the duration of my visit, but I doubt it.
Chicago isn't right for everyone, but I am deeply convinced that it is right for anyone who takes their undergraduate years seriously and wants to get everything they can out of them. That means being surrounded by people who share those values. It's like the difference between breathing air and breathing smoke. Even if the departments in question are comprable somehow, statistically, or in terms of faculty and placement, the students are not.
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-JZL
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I think I stated pretty clearly that I base my opinion on a direct experience of both student bodies.
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-JZL
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Are they smarter than people at Brandeis? I don't know what Kenny wants, but I can tell you that they probably aren't spectacularly more intelligent. But give me a somewhat slower person who cares over a prodigy without interest. At this school, I think there are likely more people in that former vein. (Oh no! Prepositions at the start of a sentence!)
Departments? It's my opinion that the U of C is probably more prestigious in the eyes of those with an eye to rank schools (still, no one on the airplane will know your school). I've always felt that there isn't a huge differential between schools in terms of academics.
For me, it was a question of the people I wanted to be around. I wasn't in love with my HS environment, and it affected my overall happiness. There are other worthy considerations, but I would recommend you go to the school you think you'd be happier at. And I think 90% of that question is who else is going there.
Anyway, good luck making your choice Kenny. I was surprised I haven't heard from you yet about your impressions after the visit here.
-- Ned Ruggeri
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