Do you remember the day you were told you’d infiltrated the Columbia gates? Picture it: You’re in front of your computer, the sweet symphony of “Roar, Lion Roar” filling your ears. A single tear rolls down your cheek, you envision yourself at the institution of your dreams, and you think: “Mom, I’m finally not a disappointment.”

To those who need to hear it: College application season is stressful, but it will be over soon enough. If you’re trying to narrow down your college list and wondering what it would be like to attend Columbia, this article can help.

Happy Halloween, Spectators! While you’ve been watching from the library windows, I’ve been out in the field doing some investigating and separating hocus pocus from hogus bogus.

From the Friday night Butler Library lights to the football field on Saturday—that is, the American football field—in the thick of the semester, you might feel like you have too much on your mind to even begin to tackle the ins and outs of football. If you find yourself putting your football in your mouth when you try to engage with America’s pastime, then this article is for you. No punt intended.

In my humble, almost-Canadian opinion, the hot chocolate at this University is very disappointing. Blue Java Café isn’t winning any awards, and neither are the dining halls, where JJ’s Place’s hot cocoa is watery and John Jay Dining Hall has downgraded its espresso machine. Maybe it’s just because I’m no longer the hopeful first-year I used to be, but some things just aren’t the same. Luckily, I found my saving grace on the first floor of the Seeley W. Mudd Building: hot cocoa, decadently sweet, for the lucrative price of just $1. It’s like a scene out of “The Polar Express.”

Here’s to chilly autumn mornings, pumpkin spice lattes, Gilmore Girls marathons, and so on. Everything seems to be falling: multicolored leaves to the ground, temperatures into the 50s, and Columbia’s U.S. News ranking down to No. 18. Talk about spooky season! It’s a nightmare come true for Columbia students. If you’re unaware about what has happened, consider yourself lucky. This new assignment has been quite the blow to the ego for some of our peers, so those at Spectrum have decided to put our minds to the task.

The flowers on campus are in bloom, love is in the air, and seasonal allergies are in full swing. If you’re able to take a break from the Butler seat you fought viciously to get during this finals season, you might notice that nature is coming alive again on campus.

Scrolling through my Instagram feed on International Women’s Day, I stumbled across a black and white photograph posted on Columbia College’s official Instagram page featuring seven women dressed in Columbia gowns. The caption read “Columbia College’s first fully coeducational class in 1987.” I was slightly disturbed by my own ignorance; it had never occurred to me that the integration of women into the college had happened so recently. I was also disturbed by the aesthetic of the post. I may not have been alive in the 1980s, but I knew well enough that color photography was more than prevalent in this time period—why would it be displayed in black and white?

For members of the Columbia University Gardening Club, every day is Earth Day.

With Columbia’s marathon of a core curriculum, it’s easy to forget about the physical education requirement. You fill your head with Art Humanities and Global Cores, until you’re two semesters out from graduation and you’re threatened with the prospect of not graduating because of a missing P.E. class. Whether you’re getting an early start or going for a Hail Mary in your final semester, this quiz will tell you what P.E. class is sure to hit it out of the park.