Be intellectual, but brush and floss while you're at it

There's been much discussion about whether it matters where you go to college. Gregg Easterbrook argues that it's being qualified to get into Harvard that matters, not actually attending that school, which probably has some truth to it. Matthew Yglesias notes, in parenthesis, what may be the more important issue: "Harvard-derived connections certainly seem to have been an important factor in securing employment at The Atlantic for many low-level staffers there of my acquaintance."

While Chicago is apparently one of the "twenty-five Gotta-Get-Ins of the moment" (quote is from Easterbrook's article), while it is generally considered an elite school, mentioning that you go or went there doesn't command the same sort of respect that mentioning you go or went to Harvard would. Chicago students are by and large smart and interesting people, but we have to prove ourselves in a way that Harvard folks aren't always required to, simply because they're from Harvard and we're not. But beyond proving competence, intelligence, and a sort of well-rounded impressiveness, Chicago students and grads have to go one step further when dealing with potential employers, co-workers, and others familiar with the University: As Chicago-affiliated people, we must prove ourselves not to be eccentric, reclusive types, free of social skills, and, worse still, uninterested in acquiring any, believing ourselves to be too bizarre and fascinating to need them. We have not become polished-looking through peer pressure, so we must polish ourselves. We must stop taking pride in our shabbiness once we leave the Hyde Park nest, assuming we ever choose to leave. Such, I believe, is the truth, sad though it may be.