Hollywood has a long-standing tradition of showing us the best and worst aspects of the lives that we lead. Whether it is singing/showtime in High school or the office environments we all dread, Hollywood entices us with images of our world, improved. The college years are no exception. For years, Hollywood has been showing us both the good and the ugly side of college, and most of us expect to find college like the movies when we arrive. It doesn’t always work out that way, but it won’t stop us from wishing that college could be just a little more like a movie. Here we take a look at some great movies that we wish were true in college:
15. National Lampoon’s Van Wilder (2002)
Seven years at college would give most of us a headache just thinking about the tuition. Van Wilder sees it as a long vacation at the place he loves most. Ryan Reynolds plays the king of campus parties, a man who appears to know everyone and can transform a boring evening into something memorable.
What’s truly enviable is just how much he fits in there. You could use a friend who knows exactly which door to knock on when your week falls apart. Remaining enrolled forever is a tougher pitch, particularly once your parents begin asking what became of that degree.
14. Accepted (2006)
A rejection letter typically signals it’s time for a different plan. Bartleby Gaines resolves that he needs a fresh college. He dreams up the South Harmon Institute of Technology to deceive his parents, only for other rejected students to arrive wanting an education.
The admissions system is awful, yet the school born from it offers a tempting idea: give students a voice in what they study. If you’ve endured a class worlds away from your interests, the appeal is obvious.
Those fake credentials would pose a problem. Even so, a campus with space for people who don’t shine on applications is something worth having.
13. Orange County (2002)
Even before you set foot in college, there’s the minor issue of getting accepted. Shaun Brumder is determined to go to Stanford, where he wants to study writing. Then his guidance counselor sends the wrong transcript, and everything falls apart because of an error he had nothing to do with.
His efforts to sort it out turn a campus visit into a disaster, with Jack Black helping things along as his brother Lance. Compared with the party movies, the dream here is pretty modest: a chance to sit down with someone who sees more in you than a stack of grades. Shaun’s passion for books also makes the idea of meeting a favorite author on campus feel like it’s worth the tuition. You can leave out the admissions catastrophe.
12. Road Trip (2000)
There’s a real charm to friends who will jump in a car and drive across the country with you on short notice. Josh’s friends do exactly that, even if their reason is not so noble: they have to get back a tape he accidentally sent to his girlfriend.
The cheating and the panic can stay in the movie. We would take the road trip itself, with enough free time to leave campus and return with stories that have nothing to do with the library. In real life, getting four students free on the same weekend can already be hard. Finding one who has a car is a different problem.
11. Old School (2003)
Snoop Dogg throwing a party at your place makes a pretty compelling case for this kind of campus life.
Mitch, Frank, and Beanie are grown men chasing a taste of their old freedom by founding a fraternity near a college. Their version of fun quickly turns them into the dean’s headache, and Will Ferrell’s Frank has a knack for turning one bad call into a disaster.
You probably wouldn’t hand him the reins of your next student event. Still, the film argues for a campus social scene open to people who aren’t young, polished, or popular. A few of its partygoers would struggle to blend into a typical freshman welcome week.
10. Liberal Arts (2012)
A peaceful afternoon on campus can feel just as much like a fantasy as a massive frat party. In Liberal Arts, Jesse goes back to his former college for a professor’s retirement dinner and begins to long for the life he once had there. Books and lengthy conversations appear to occupy the space that his grown-up job now fills.
His relationship with student Zibby becomes uncomfortable, so the romance isn’t the part we’d take. It’s the moment to read something simply because you want to, then discuss it with someone who genuinely cares. Naturally, you can find that in college. It simply has a tendency to compete with a work shift and an essay you should have begun last week.
9. Pitch Perfect (2012)
Joining a club sounds simple until you’re outside a room of strangers. Beca isn’t fond of college life either, but the Barden Bellas give her a reason to join in. Soon, a cappella practice takes up far more of her life than she expected.
The late-night riff-off makes campus feel like a place where a great show is waiting on your way home. It also helps that Beca can use her music taste instead of leaving it at the dorm door. We’d gladly take a student club that turns a private hobby into shared fun. Singing that well on demand might need a few more rehearsals.
8. Monsters University (2013)
Fitting in as the one who doesn’t belong becomes much easier when an entire household of misfits welcomes you into their ranks. Mike and Sulley eventually find themselves joining Oozma Kappa, a fraternity made up of members who hardly match the picture of the school’s finest scarers. Their attempt to come out on top in the Scare Games gives them a shared purpose and a real reason to band together.
A college competition in which the students everyone overlooked finally get a fair chance is something simple and natural to hope for. The same goes for a team that continues to make space for you even when your plans fall apart.
The movie treats Mike’s dream career with far less warmth, and that is precisely what makes the friendships around him feel so much more valuable. Even at a campus packed with monsters, you cannot rely on landing the course or the job that you were hoping for.
7. 22 Jump Street (2014)
Jenko discovers where he belongs when he joins the football team. Schmidt gradually gravitates toward the group of students who are into art. The two of them are supposed to be carrying out an undercover assignment, yet college offers each of them the opportunity to sample a different kind of life, one that does not really fit with the friendship they have carried with them.
You do not need to know anything about their police assignment in order to grasp that kind of pull. Arriving at a new campus can represent a fresh start, and the film manages to make the process of finding your people seem surprisingly fast. The football games and the spring break parties make things easier as well. We would be satisfied simply with the ability to try out a new club without feeling as though we have committed ourselves to an entirely new identity. Holding on to an old friend while also making new ones can demand far more effort than either of the two men anticipates.
6. Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)
Classes haven’t begun yet. That’s a big part of the appeal.
Richard Linklater’s film follows freshman Jake as he moves in with his college baseball teammates in 1980 Texas. There’s time to go out, meet people, and argue about little things. The guys drift from one music scene to the next, chasing a good night instead of big plans.
You could want a first weekend like this, even without ever holding a bat. Jake has a ready-made group to show him around, easing the fear of being new. A few friendly faces before the first class would make starting college easier. The film stretches that short free time long enough for us to enjoy it.
5. The Social Network (2010)
For the vast majority of dorm-room ventures, the story ends there, never growing into something that reshapes the daily routines of millions of people. The Social Network ensures that this tantalizing possibility lingers in the mind, refusing to fade away. Its portrayal of how Facebook took root in a Harvard dorm room transforms those late-night hours of coding into the first spark of a company that would far outgrow the students who founded it.
The bitter disputes over who deserved credit and who truly owned the idea give the story a grim, cautionary edge in certain moments. What we would gladly accept instead is the opportunity to create something meaningful using abilities we are still in the process of developing, all while being surrounded by people capable of helping that creation actually succeed. A solid college project, at best, might secure you a decent grade. This particular one, however, leaves you pondering what might have unfolded had you simply kept pushing forward on it long after the deadline had passed.
4. Revenge of the Nerds (1984)
Geeks are becoming the new cool throughout the world, but it doesn’t stop us all from feeling like we are at the bottom of the social ladder more often than we’d like. Even if nerds, in general, are no longer at the bottom of the heap, on bad days, it can feel like it’s time for justice to be finally served against the universe.
Of course, in this instance, we can be glad that most universities no longer have a ruling class, but when you are in a foul mood, it can be nice to imagine that there is one for you to take down.
3. Legally Blonde (2001)
Legally Blonde almost borders on the feminist in its tale of a woman’s climb to self-actualization. While this movie does involve students sitting in a classroom and studying, it still falls a little shy of the real college experience.
First-year students in prestigious internships, the persuasive power of studying and looks, and the showdown of the show make college seem like a breeze. Unfortunately, although Elle does get by pretty well on looks and beauty tips, most of us are going to have to submit to a lot of hard work to get our degrees.
2. Rudy (1993)
Rudy is a classic story that warms the heart and can help us feel that our college campus is the home of people who are only a few steps from greatness.
Unfortunately, college is a lot more like the ruthless real world than we want it to be. Although we would rather see the triumph of poor Rudy, maybe even in our own lives, whenever we enter our campus or step onto our football field, we are more likely to see people underachieving and getting knocked down by life.
1. Animal House (1978)
This movie is an all-time classic college movie. Nothing has quite risen to National Lampoon’s glory in immortalizing everything that we secretly wish college would be. Unfortunately, it is only a wish. The real facts of academic probation, expulsion, and police involvement make lousy movies, even if they are inevitable in daily life.
If anything, the movie has helped universities to create better rules to control their fraternities, meaning that the happy antics of the Deltas will remain immortalized only on the silver screen.
