We all had this image of how our lives would look in college. Blue skies, a group of friends passing a frisbee, parties that everyone was invited to, and “Semi-Charmed Life” playing in the background. That’s the way it was fed to us: through the movies about college students, made for college students. They all romanticized this part of our lives and made us believe we are capable of anything without getting burnt out. But, in reality, I learned that college life isn’t all drinks by the pool and acapella riff-offs.
Honestly, I blame Elle Woods. She made college look so inviting with her vibrant outfits and sorority house filled with friends. She’s the reason I wanted to become a lawyer in middle school, because Harvard wasn’t hard to get into, obviously. Fast forward to the future, and thank goodness I didn’t go to law school. Legally Blonde forgot to mention academic burnout and the harsh reality of making decisions about future careers. While Elle Woods represented a client in a murder case in her first year at Harvard Law, my first year consisted of trying to put myself out there and attempting to map out the entire campus. The movie also sets an unrealistic standard for how our personal wardrobes will look in college, because sometimes I struggle to even put on jeans to go to class.
Growing up, I believed that every college had a sick a cappella team that served as the school’s mascot. Thanks to Pitch Perfect, I had the unrealistic expectation of meeting a great group of girls who’d do riff-offs with me. However, creating friendships in college is much more vulnerable than it appears on screen. Usually, you meet someone in class, share your major, and keep talking, hoping that this person will want to hang out with you socially. Clubs and organizations still serve as portals to make new friends, and acapella groups still exist. But you don’t always immediately find the people you click with, as Beca did with her Barden Bellas.
Movies about college kids always show the most romanticized relationship someone in their late teens or early twenties can experience. Typically, the main girl ends up with the first guy she meets, and their relationship tends to move pretty quickly. Like the characters in these movies, we’re all new to the scene when we first arrive at college, and meeting guys can be a hit or miss. While I can’t speak on behalf of every college girl, I will say that finding the perfect rom-com boyfriend is hard at this age. After all, hookup culture is the norm for most college-aged individuals. Very rarely do you meet a guy in the wild who immediately gives you flowers and takes you out for dinner. More often, guys are looking for something temporary, something casual—a low-maintenance relationship, if even that. All things considered, dating in college is much harder than it is depicted on the screen, and some of us don’t even attempt it at all.
I always thought that I’d go through a radical glow-up the moment I set foot in college. I let The House Bunny determine how I viewed Greek life, and imagined a retired Playboy Bunny would come help update my wardrobe. Unfortunately, I was quickly mistaken when skin started breaking out more in college than it ever had in high school. Movies always depict the main college girl as flawless, but a major change in our environment, diet, and stress levels can cause changes in our faces and bodies. The best thing is to go easy on yourself and learn to embrace yourself as you change. Movies never address these significant changes, but the reality is you’re going through a whole new part of your life.
College movies may be full of inherently untrue cliches, but they are fun to watch. They keep us optimistic, fuel the younger versions of us, and make us excited for higher education. Sometimes I wish I had a catchy song playing as I moved my way through college, but then again, I can just put my AirPods in and start walking. College is the experience you create for yourself. It has its ups, its downs, and maybe we’d all make it through if we just went and played frisbee in the grass.