As a senior, I sometimes wonder how my college days would have turned out if I had chosen another university. After TimeOut Chicago selected the University of Chicago as its “Head of the Class” in a cross-town rivalry against Northwestern, I asked myself if I’d made a mistake. Isn’t U of C the place where fun goes to die? Where unkempt hobbits frolic and trade Magic cards? Or had this reputation been fabricated by NU students trying to justify their college decisions? Surely the U of C kids are older versions of friends who sat beside us in AP European History and Model UN practice. Where had the camaraderie gone?

I headed south to visit our neighbor intellectuals and perhaps end this divisive stereotyping. Along for the ride was my roommate, Denise, a dually accepted applicant, nostalgic for the day in April four years ago when she decided between the two campuses.

Upon arrival at Hyde Park’s gothic labyrinth of academia, we soon realized our clothes were too form-fitting,