What your study space says about you

Midterms week is upon us, and students are vying for study spaces like tributes in the Hunger Games.

Here’s a breakdown of the most common places to study on and off campus, and what they say about you because where you choose to spend your most miserable hours says a lot.

Falvey Memorial Library

Within the walls of the most obvious and popular study space on campus, there lies a definitive hierarchy.  The library’s ground floor is home to a bustling Holy Grounds location, a decent amount of tables and plenty of seating that’s more conducive to chatting than to getting work done.

If you’re on the first floor, you probably don’t mind overhearing everyone’s complicated latte orders or being approached by a freshman who needs help with the printers. You’re approachable, you’re friendly and you’re the kind of person who thrives in a busy environment.

But three floors up is a completely different world.  If you’re bold enough to venture upstairs to the fourth floor, I salute you.  You mean business.  There’s a reason why there are significantly less doodles on fourth floor cubicles than those on the third.  That’s because fourth floor studiers know how to get things done and they don’t waste time messing around.

It’s a wonderful place if you’re looking to avoid all human interaction.  Just remember to silence your phone and laptop, or face the wrath of your fellow crammers.

Bartley Exchange

Odds are you’re in a Greek organization.  With its recent renovations, the Exchange is arguably the most beautiful space on campus – in a modern airport kind of way.  It’s a place for social butterflies, the students who like to pretend they’re being productive but actually know they’re going to strike up a conversation with the first person they recognize.

It also doesn’t hurt that the Exchange has the best food on campus and the friendliest staffers (shout-out to my girl Janae).

Law School Library

If you like to study at the Law School, you are simply too cool for school.  It takes guts to pretend you’re a law student and sneak by the reception desk without being wild-carded.  But once you’ve tried it, there’s no going back to the undergrad library.

The building combines the seriousness of Falvey’s fourth floor with the modern aesthetic of Bartley. It’s a win-win.  Students who like to work here are ambitious and may feel a bit superior to the plebeians who study elsewhere.

Starbucks

This one is pretty self-explanatory.  If Starbucks is your study place of choice, you probably appreciate everyone’s favorite basic study companion: a good pumpkin spice latte.

With locations in Bryn Mawr, Wayne, and now Villanova, Starbucks has become a safe haven for students who are sick of Holy Grounds and just want to get off campus for a while.  As popular as it is, the coffee chain should be wary because La Colombe seems to be on the rise.

La Colombe

“Starbucks is far too corporate”, they think to themselves as they sip a draft latte from yet another corporate coffee chain.  But that’s not the point – La Colombe does actually serve superior coffee, and the environment can be more conducive to studying than the middle schooler-infested Starbucks locations around Nova.

So hipsters, get your study on at La Colombe before it too becomes too mainstream.