<p>warblersrule86 - Let me expand a bit on "trying a new comfort zone". Duke is close by for you in the familiar and wonderful South. The University of Chicago and the "City of Big Shoulders" would undoubtedly be a new bit-of-a-risk, will-I-like-it type environment. If you do go to U of C, there would be no hurry to find out about the looming city outside the campus and Hyde Park. It's take a sip or take a big drink at your time and place of choosing. But if you do take that sip, you'll be back for more.</p>
<p>Here's a for-instance. A couple I know from my undergraduate days have been academics their entire careers (Phd's in Biology from the Ivy League including teaching/researching for several years at Duke Medical School and University of North Carolina (Biology Department) and then both on to the University of Wisconsin.) Where are they now? They now live on an upper floor of a new high rise condominium in downtown Chicago. They are still in academics with one of them commuting to a position in a Southern state. But the long-term lure of the city of Chicago which started when they were U of C College students brought them back.</p>