The Media’s Portrayal of College from the Eyes of a Freshman

From “Gossip Girl” to “Gilmore Girls” and from “Pitch Perfect” to “Legally Blonde,” TV shows and movies surrounding the topic of college are among the most popular and loved plot lines today. It is genuinely impossible to watch some movies and not see footage from a university.

For example, it only takes 25 seconds for the word “collegiate” to be mentioned in “Pitch Perfect.” Similarly, a college campus is shown only 30 seconds into “Legally Blonde,” and Greek life is depicted 41 seconds into the movie.

As widely popular as these movies and shows are, I think I can speak for most young adults when I say, they are not accurate to my college experience.

Colleges and universities around the U.S. work tirelessly each and every day to recruit students by promoting the good sides and hiding the bad — let’s be honest, who can blame them? It’s classic admissions PR.

It’s hard to know what’s accurate and what’s not from college admissions content. For starters, yes, you may make friends with the person behind you in the Chick-fil-A line between classes, but that Chick-fil-A line is 15 minutes long and in the building across campus nowhere near where you need to be, and you probably will never talk to that person again.

Another factor is the priorities of the student and parents when looking at a college. The student may look at movies like “22 Jump Street” and want a similar college experience; meanwhile, a parent may look at a university’s ad about safety and use it as the deciding factor over other schools.

Colleges and universities pose themselves in the media with the statistics and shots that make them look the most appealing. Movies and TV shows depict what they think will get the most views and best ratings. It is almost impossible to understand the personality of a college without visiting its campus or talking to a current student. Even then, we’re all secretly and deep down biased and promote our schools more than others.