(I don't have the books just now, they're being shipped to my new address).

You've made some good points, and reminded me why I was willing to give Egwene more credit right after I read TGS. However, I would still like to see more of this from her: I definitely share the original poster's apprehensions about her meeting with Rand.

Even in that paragraph, she judges her relationships in a very cold, professional way, which is prudent I guess but also alienates her from those around her.

I do think that you're comparison with Rand & Semirhage is baseless, that scenario just wouldn't happen since you can't flee a Forsaken that easily. And I quoted counter-examples as well (eg with Nynaeve, who is a friend and mentor like Siuan is to Egwene). And ultimately, Egwene has experienced a mere fraction (at best) of the stress and hardship that Rand has, so it's little surprise that his temper is more loosely held than hers. I still think that she should have really probed Siuan on why she was rescued (would again like to double check if she did in the books, but can't), because hearing about the Bloodknives would surely have convinced her that lying there unconscious was suicide. There's sufficient evidence to think that this might have actually been the fulfilment of the prophecy (dream?) regarding Gawyn deciding to kill or, or to save her life, in which case he has done the latter.

But if people judge Egwene more harshly than Rand, you can't forget that Rand has been through far, far worse than her, and faces far greater challenges. I do tend to agree to some extent with some of Cannoli's points about how easy it was to influence and impress the tower AS. If she can reshape them into an organisation not only of strength, but also wisdom and service to Randland, then I'll have more faith in her. As I said elsewhere, I think she's done some pretty good things (be it through luck or with the help of others, she still did them), but as a character her attitude irks me more than that of other characters.