While "What's your favorite season?" may seem like a simple question you'd find on an All About Me worksheet in third grade, in reality, it is far, far more important than that. Think about it: the current season dictates so many things. There are the obvious ones, like the weather and what clothes you wear, but the effects run far deeper. The seasons decide the music you listen to, the food you find at the end of supermarket aisles, and for some people, the theme of your Instagram feed. In all of these ways and more, fall is superior, and here's why:

The weather

Jeffrey Betts

Fall has absolutely the best weather out of the entire year, and nobody can ever change my mind about that. Winter is freezing, spring is humid, summer is unbearably hot, but fall...fall is perfect. In fall, the air is cool enough that when you arrive at your 8 am you're not sweaty and gross, but not so freezing that you bundle up so much that when you get to your 8 am you're gross and sweaty anyway.

The fashion

FreeStocks

The clothes you get to wear in fall are hands down the cutest clothes out of the year. The flannels, the sweaters, the skinny jeans, and fuzzy socks tucked into boots; the maroons and goals and emerald greens. Not to mention the fact that you can wear a comfy sweater and not be hot, but you don't have to ruin your outfit with a huge coat to stay warm.

The drinks

Mark Rabe

Pumpkin spice lattes. Need I say more?

The activities

Viktor Hanacek

If I had a nickel for every time one of my friends has said that we should go apple picking, I'd have enough money to buy a hundred PSLs. There's also pumpkin carving, corn mazes, hayrides, bonfires, walks through the forest (see below), that make for an endless array of fun, seasonal things to do for you and your friends- they make for super cute date ideas too!

The leaves

Peter Heeling

No one can deny that stepping outside into a fall day is absolutely gorgeous. If you've never walked on a trail through the forest in the fall, you are missing out. The sheer beauty of trees that are full with leaves the color of sunset, surrounded by heaps of leaves blanketing the ground, combined with the sheer joy of stepping on a leaf that is just the right amount of crunchy, is incomparable.

The music

Karolina Grabowska

Now I'm not saying beachy summer bops and Christmas music aren't great, because they definitely have their place, but I am saying that there are some "lo-fi fall vibes" playlists on Spotify that are so chill, listening to them in your room with a warm drink and an apple pumpkin candle burning creates a mood that can truly heal any soul.

The smells

Viktor Hanacek

Speaking of apple pumpkin candles, the scents fostered by the fall season are unmatched. You have pumpkin spice, apple pie, dark sandalwood, cinnamon, maple, and not to mention the smell of burning wood you get when you walk through any Midwestern suburb (a prime source of joy and nostalgia).

The spookiness

Karolina Grabowska

My roommate and I have orange and white pennants on our wall that spell out #SPOOKYSZN, so you could say Halloween is a pretty big deal. It's definitely the biggest highlight of the fall season. The candy, the costumes, the decorations, the scary movies, and the parties all create an experience that is truly its own season in a way. A season within a season, what's better than that?

If you're not yet convinced that fall is the superior season, I'm not sure what to tell you. But you could try putting on a flannel, bundling up in a blanket, sitting near a window with a view of the trees, turning on some lo-fi jams, lighting a cinnamon candle, and listening to "Monster Mash," and letting the fall vibes just wash over you. Then maybe you'll see the glorious, glorious perfection that is the season of fall.