The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Conn Coll chapter.
| Yale University (Gilmore Girls) | Connecticut College | |
| Dorms | When I watched Gilmore Girls for the first time, I was blown away by Rory’s first-year dorm at Yale. She shared a huge common room, including a fireplace and television, with only three other roommates. Two double bedrooms were attached to the common room and seemed to be very spacious. While I imagine some college seniors may live in nice suites like this dorm, it is certainly unrealistic for first-years to be placed in such luxurious dorms. | My triple dorm room is probably about half the size of Rory’s common room alone. Aside from some apartments, most Conn dorms are not suite-style. Common rooms are shared among whole floors or houses and students are not free to furnish them as they please. |
| Food | Gilmore Girls makes college dining look very dignified. Students eat pot roast and mashed potatoes for dinner while sitting with their friends at clean wooden tables in a beautifully historic dining hall. | In reality, college dining is more similar to eating at a fast food place than eating at a five-star restaurant. Harris Refectory is definitely not a beautiful, historic building and most of the food could not be considered fancy. |
| Classes | The round-table discussion style classes portrayed in Gilmore Girls are mostly true to the liberal arts college experience, other than the fact that some interactions between students and teachers are dramaticized for entertainment purposes. During her first semester at Yale, Rory overwhelms herself by taking five courses even though the normal course load for first-years is four. She thought she would be able to handle more because her grandfather did, and she stubbornly refuses to believe it is too much for her. | If Rory attended Conn, her pre-major, staff, or student advisors probably would have steered her away from taking five difficult courses during her first semester of college. Conn has a credit limit for first-year students anyway, making Rory’s situation nearly impossible. |