Today, I infiltrated the one school that Duke managed to beat in football this past season.  Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, just outside of Chicago, has been a familiar place to me for several years, but now, I compare Duke to this prototypical Midwestern, highly-selective institution.

1.    Northwestern's professors are more dedicated to actually teaching.  I sat in on a class and ended up asking the Organic Chemistry professor a random question ("What is the most stable organic molecule ever?"), and in spite of never having seen me before, he looked through reference books and spent fifteen minutes of his time trying to come up with a reasonable answer to my ridiculous question. 

Don't get me wrong--Duke's professors are brilliant...but through my experience, many are so caught up with their own work that students are a lesser priority.

2.    Pick-up basketball games at Duke are more physical and tenacious.  I remember playing ball at Northwestern and having kids start screaming and b****ing at me for even the slightest contact.  I'm preparing to block a shot, and the guy comes wildly spinning into the lane, jumps into me, and gets his eye wacked in the process...and his teammates get on my back for being too physical.

Different basketball culture I guess.  C'mon, guys, no blood, no foul.  Blood, wipe it up, and keep playing.

3.    Duke's food options SUCK...UTTERLY...in comparison to Northwestern.  Granted, the food at Duke is pretty high quality, but you just get sick of eating the same thing over and OVER and OVER.  It drives me nuts.  Northwestern has several all-you-can-eat dining halls and a nice college town with dozens upon dozens of specialty restaurants.  For a guy like me who likes to fill his belly, food ain't no joke.

4.    Duke's weather is AWESOME.  This alone could pretty much decide it for me between the two schools.  It's been 80s at Duke for the past week and more, and it's going to be low 50s for the next few days at Northwestern.  Easy choice for me.

5.    Northwestern kids seem more stressed and uptight.  I mean, they're unbelievably hardworking, so it kinda goes hand in hand.  Duke students at least appear to be pretty easy going and chill.  I guess image is a big thing, ala Effortless Perfection?

As a Dukie, I gotta say the weather and basketball culture easily outweigh more food options and more dedicated teachers.  But for $45,000 a year, should I really have to choose between the two?  I think not.