A recent post of rjyoung's got me thinking, and even though it is really a response, I prefer to post it here rather than there (partly because it is long, partly because of my dearth of posts)... My visit to Chicago was exactly a year ago. It was rather uneventful. I didn't contact too many people about it, so I didn't get taken out or such things. I talked to a few people, and they were nice, but this was the only place I was considering, and I probably would've come here no matter what. I am glad I came here though.
The classes have been ok, but that's not the point as far as I'm concerned. The material in the first year is all classical enough to be found in books, and although classes/professors offer insights and intuition and examples that are harder to find purely by reading, one could get by. As Robert mentioned, the first year forms social bonds, through the workload, and the common location, and perhaps the fact that all the first years are excellent people. I love Karen's statement to one of the prospectives, that we are all like an old married couple. It's amusing but true... The people are wonderful. And I think we did well advertising the place. My perception was, that for most prospectives, the more we hung out with them, the more they seemed to enjoy themselves, and the better disposed they became to this place. Perhaps this was a bit of projection, as I enjoyed it, but I still think it's true. And my reason for thinking it is true, is again the people are fun to hang out with...
It also occurred to me that in a way, the social atmosphere is artificial in a way, in much the same way grade/high school is. One spends so much time together in a small setting. There is no effort required to contact people. I hardly ever talk on the phone, and there is no need; I see most of the people I'd like to see almost daily... But then I like getting phone calls, so perhaps I should call people. Much the same way that getting a letter is always fun, but no one writes letters these days...
