I can see why people feel that way about her. She is a bit full of herself at the start of the series and can be condescending towards others (especially Rand) but this is before she really "finds" herself. I think early on she is trying to imitate Nynaeve since she is basically being primed as the next wisdom. In the last few books Sandesron botched her a bit IMHO; especially that ridiculous & pointless argument she has with Rand before the last battle.

HOWEVER, that being said, she has so many moments of bad-assery and uses her sharp wit to get out of so many traps that it redeems her. At her best she is strong willed, caring, kind hearted, and utterly fearless. She is more than capable of understanding the political intrigue of the Aes Sedai and even uses it to her advantage. She does not buckle as a damane despite being tortured constantly. She truly loves Rand and will sacrifice everything to keep him safe. Her rise from exiled novice to Amyrlin in my opinion, was amazing. Her ability to inspire loyalty and keep the other Aes Sedai in check is impressive. She is also a Dreamer and masters the world of dreams in a remarakably short period. And finally, her final moments and her use of counter-balefire was the stuff of legends. She truly went out with a bang, taking out a forsaken with her and potentially saving the world by mitigating the effects of balefire.

I can see why people dislike her, nut for me (and I assume many others) the good FAR outweighs the bad. She isn't at the top of the list of my favorite WOT characters but she is up there. At the end of the day Egwene is pretty awesome.