Now that I’m in my final year of college and getting ready to graduate, I thought it would be a perfect time to reflect on my college years. I’ve been wondering about whether or not my college experience aligned with how they portray those formative years in TV shows and movies — or if that idea of college that they show in media was some sort of facade.
I will say that I believe the media portrays an exaggerated view of college, but most of what they show is kind of accurate. Well, at least for my college experience.
Before coming into college my freshman year, I did tons of digging on how the college experience would or should be — from watching YouTube vlogs to dorm move-in TikToks, I wanted to get a grasp on how people in college felt and how their experience was. I set out to watch all the movies that were supposed to capture the true essence of what college was actually about.
Consuming all this media made me so excited to finally be entering college. I honestly couldn’t wait to be in a college town surrounded by new people and new opportunities. With all the research I did, I was fully prepared for the partying every night, tons of new friends, and the freedom of being on my own.
I found that the one thing that movies and television shows did get right was all the partying that’s done in college. At Temple, it feels like there’s basically a party for almost everything you could imagine. The weekend starts on Thursday and ends on Sunday, and you’ll never find a weekend where there are absolutely no parties. My freshman year, I probably went out every single weekend without fail, and the only time I didn’t go out was when I had to go home for Christmas break. And when I was on break, I could not wait to be back on campus surrounded by my friends.
And yes, just as the movies showcase, there is a lot of drinking. It can be easy to get caught up in drinking basically every single weekend. Pregaming with your friends in their apartment or dorm before going out seems to be an essential part of college for a lot of students. In my opinion, pregaming with your friends before a party, doing your make up together in your dorm, listening to music in someone’s kitchen, and taking shots before leaving were probably more fun than actually going out and partying.
Speaking of dorms, no matter how much people complain about them, they’re really essential to that first-year college experience. Some of my best memories were created in my best friend’s freshman dorm. Whether it was grabbing food at the dining hall, doing homework in a study room, or even pregaming before a party, the dorm life was actually a pretty good time.
One show that I discovered this year that I really feel like captures this college experience would be Grown-ish. This spinoff of Black-ish follows the life of Zoey Johnson and her experience in college as she juggles new friendships, romances, school life, and a more complex social life.
When watching this show, I felt like I could relate to almost every episode: From rocky situationships (which I feel like every single person in college has had their fair share of) and the college feeling of being broke, to trying to balance partying alongside school.
I especially love how Grown-ish dove into the topic of how college can be hard on your pockets. Before going to college, I had a pretty good amount of money saved from working my little high school job, living at home, and not spending my own money. But once I got to college, lord, did my bank account take a hit. This was from spending money on things like alcohol; Ubers to parties; food orders; groceries; and every single outing I could attend, like concerts and spring break trips.
If I could give my freshman year self-one piece of advice, it would be: Pease budget your money, girl!
Another show that I feel like most college students could relate to is The Sex Lives of College Girls. This show follows the lives of four college girls who are roommates freshman year, have been besties ever since, and go through all the colleges cliches together.
Something that they especially got right is how big “hook-up culture” is in college. Casual flings and one-night stands after a drunk night seem to be pretty normalized past the silver screen. In my opinion, it’s honestly pretty hard to find someone that wants a serious relationship in college. I find that it’s mostly people who just want to have fun and live their best, single lives.
One thing I could not relate to in this show, though, was getting roommates I ended up being close friends with. Throughout my four years of college, I never got lucky with the roommate lottery. I honestly couldn’t even fathom hanging out with any of my roommates socially. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to meet a lifelong roommate bestie, but I did meet best friends in other ways who I will now have for life.
The one movie that did capture my roommate experience would have to be the first Pitch Perfect movie, when main character Becca (played by Anna Kendrick) has a roommate that she doesn’t even socialize with and can barely even stand. I’m glad this movie showed how not every roommate situation is some magical experience where you meet your platonic soul mate for life, because for some people, it’s just not reality.
But the one thing in Pitch Perfect that I never seen in my college years was an acapella battle between different acapella groups, which I’m highly disappointed about….
So, if I was to answer the question about whether college is really like the movies, I would say yes and no. Because, of course, the media did get some things right, but everyone’s experience is different. Someone reading this might not be able to relate to me in the slightest, but that’s truly the essence of college — everyone lives completely different lives and there’s nothing wrong with that.