Now, I know we all came into college with flashes of Pitch Perfect in our heads. Some of us thought we would get recruited into an acapella group by humming in the shower naked or find our one true love in the rival group (definitely wasn’t me). Sadly, I’ve learned college is not as glamorous as the movie portrays.
It’s not acapella competitions and rehearsals. For most of us, it is endless hours of homework and trying to cope with homesickness. Unfortunately, we can’t all have a dad-professor who’s willing to be there for us emotionally and support our dream of becoming a music producer in L.A. Many of us are far away from our parents, being out-of-staters or even international students. Even if you are one of the lucky few who are close to home, homesickness plagues all of us. It’s hard living in this new environment where you constantly feel like a fish out of water, knowing your younger siblings and parents are living happily without you. It makes you appreciate the little things like your bed, your mom’s cooking, and your favorite toilet. Although it’s easy to ignore the pain when we are so busy running around, it’s important to recognize these feelings and remember other students are feeling the same way.
Furthermore, college can be a very lonely experience if you don’t have a good group of friends. A cafeteria is a daunting place when it’s just you and your plate of mediocre food. Without a stable community, it’s easy to see how college can be a very isolating experience. Anna Kendrick had 12 built-in besties off the bat after joining the Barden Bellas. In reality, it’s not that easy to find your crowd. It’s perfectly normal to go through different friendships until you find the right one, just like trying on clothes. While it’s helpful to create connections and get to know as many people as you can, it’s even more vital to foster genuine friendships with people who will stick with you through thick and thin. Don’t worry if you don’t have your life-long friends yet, they most likely aren’t going to be from the first club you join or the first class you have. Good things take time.
As I’m sure you know, most people go to college for academics (womp womp). Sadly, we cannot focus all of our time on extracurriculars like The Barden Bellas or The Treblemakers unless we want to fail our classes. Most movies only show the social part of college, but what you don’t see is the countless hours of studying and stress that occupy our minds. It’s not always fun in the sun. We survive on minimal amounts of sleep and copious amounts of coffee. With essays and exams every week, it’s difficult to balance extracurriculars with our academic and social lives.
The roomie situation. As you’ve seen, Pitch Perfect portrays very niche circumstances of the college experience and Beca’s roommate is simply another example of this. Whether you choose your roomie beforehand or go random, living in the same room as someone else is scary at first. There will definitely be awkward conversations about cleaning the room or how loud you can play your TikTok videos. However, with open communication and flexible boundaries, you should be able to overcome any challenges. It’s rare to be stuck with someone as standoffish and private as Kimmy, who wasn’t willing to compromise at all.
Pitch Perfect is still a phenomenal movie everyone going to college must watch. As Benji would say, “It gives me such a rush.” It will forever be my comfort movie. However, don’t leave the movie with any expectations of college life like I did or you will still be waiting for that acapella audition.