Being a few weeks into my second year of college, I find myself adjusting well to my new class routines, balancing my social and academic life, and doing all of the other things typical of a college student- going out, spending money I don’t have, binge watching Netflix when I shouldn’t be, and so forth. With that being said, I have realized something pretty big about college: It is nothing like what you see in TV shows or movies. While so many shows and movies portray college life, I’ve decided to focus on the most popular, and most deceiving, ones.
Gossip Girl
Because scandals, constant texting, and underage champagne drinking gets you into Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth and NYU, right? Wrong. Gossip Girl made the admissions process look like a breeze, and made it seem as if getting into an ivy league school was as easy as any other place. Granted, Blair did not get into Yale, but still gets into NYU, which is still a damn difficult school to get into.
Gilmore Girls
Aside from Rory Gilmore getting into virtually every school she applied to (all top-tier schools), she also has the dorm room the size of a small house. My freshman year dorm room could fit in her living room area with still extra room for seating. Yale may be nice, but I guarantee that her dorm room will be about 40 times bigger than the one you get.
Greek
While I am not part of Greek life, even I can tell you that what you see about sororities and fraternities on the hit show Greek is not an accurate representation at all. Greek portrays sorority girls as catty women, who will do whatever it takes to be the top-tier house, and yes I do mean whatever it takes. No one in real life ever takes it that far to be a “top-tier” house, and most girls in a sorority are not snobs.
Legally Blonde
Deciding to take the LSAT and get into Harvard Law? Elle Woods seemed to do it in only a few months, but any pre-law major will tell you that that is next to impossible. Those who attend Harvard Law have basically been working towards that since birth, and most can agree that getting dumped doesn’t work that good as a motivator. Moving aside from the fact that she is attending Harvard, doing that well on the LSAT on her first try, from only studying for a little bit is downright ridiculous.
The House Bunny
Well, for one, your house mom is definitely not going to be anything like Anna Farris, and two no sorority ever throws a party as large and contained as the one in The House Bunny. If this was attempted in real life, the police would be on it in under 20 minutes, and everything would be shut down immediately. Oh, and don’t forget the massive amounts of tickets you would get for underage alcohol, not having the correct permits, and noise violations.
College really is such a great experience, and so much fun, it’s a shame that the media has yet to portray the correct version of this. Here’s to letting down every college freshman as they enter their shoebox sized dorm room, eat horrible dining common food, gain the freshman 15, and walk around aimlessly trying to get into a party.