Sometimes on Missed Connections, you don’t get what you’re looking for.

And sure enough…

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This Halloween edition of Missed Connections is scary as only Missed Connections can be.

Some people don’t need Halloween as an excuse to be creepy.

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Although we only have one missed connection this week, it will TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY.

I mean, you probably didn’t notice I was following you, right? Isn’t that discrete?

This week’s Missed Connections is very …

He was probably too “… whatever” to say hi in person then.

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This week’s Missed Connections is full of all sorts of colorful characters.

Worst pick-up line ever?

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Yesterday evening, Nirupama Menon Rao, Ambassador of India to the United States, spoke to Georgetown students, faculty, and alumni in Gaston Hall. Her visit was in anticipation of a summit on Indian and American higher education, which will be hosted at Georgetown next month, and the creation of a chair of Indian Culture and Affairs within the Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Dressed in a regal pink sari, Ambassador Rao emphasized the interconnectedness of all countries in today’s global environment. She cited acts of international terror as especially important in making more developed countries realize that third-world and developing nations are equally important and deserving of attention as larger powers. She also described India’s “rapid social and economic transformation” in a mere sixty years as a quiet example for developing countries. She then, to the crowd’s chagrin, discussed how India was not in a competition with China for the role of the ideal rags to riches nation.

In this vein, Rao was especially emphatic about education as a “vessel for social change.” She discussed India’s commitment to extending higher education and technical schools, as well as extending primary education to rural areas. The bigger challenge, she said, is keeping children, especially girls, in school through their teenage years.

As much as Ambassador Rao tried to preach about the democratic and peaceful tradition of India, economic advancement was never far behind. She repeatedly stated that one of the main reasons for wanting to ensure “a safe neighborhood” in Southeast Asia was so that India could meet its economic targets for the future—the growth of the country’s gross domestic product is obviously a priority. Furthermore, she said her nation was ready to take on a greater world leadership role, especially being included on the United Nations Security Council as a permanent member, a reform supported by President Obama.

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It’s missed Connections Friday! Restoring your faith in humanity right before the weekend.

Because if you’re wearing the same cardigan, it must be true love.

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If you can’t wait for the US News and World Report rankings (see this nifty timer for how long that will be) for your insightful college assessments, here’s a little something to hold you over—QS World Universities has released their list of the top 300 international institutions of higher learning. On the list, Georgetown ranked #166 of all schools, edging out University of Malaya, but falling just short of the University of Ghent. Not only have we fallen 11 spots since last year, but we also came out behind numerous U.S. schools that other rankings place us ahead of, like University of Arizona (#163) and New York University (#44).

Much (40%) of this website’s methodology is based on a so-called online “academic reputation survey” of various university professors and lecturers, which took in nearly 34,000 responses. Meanwhile, numbers like the proportion of international students are given a mere 5% of the pie. The rankings do not consider factors like campus environment or postgrad job opportunities.

At the top of the list, the University of Cambridge unseated all the usual suspects (Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) for the top spot. Other surprises include Princeton languishing at #13 and George Washington University sneaking in at #296.