The problem I see is that if you say that you don;t like the consistency of instruction, and the instructors don’t let you “think”, how do you know that the other schools will be different? Every school has good and bad profs. Is this a department wide problem or did you just end up with a bad prof or two in your classes? Is there a department philosophy of instruction that you can point to that does not fit your way of learning? Do you have proof that your target school will be different? If you tell admins that your current school (which is widely known and respected), doesn’t have good profs and won’t let you think, its not going to come off well.