College in Real Life VS College in Movies

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Photo by Pang Yuhao

There are a lot of movies about the lives of students. Most of them set a certain cliche about how undergraduates in the US live and study. According to Hollywood, students usually hang out with their mates, have great parties constantly, allocate plenty of spare time, and don’t care about their grades. Let’s take a deeper dive and reveal all the myths about the real life of students in the US compared to Hollywood movies. 

Academics

Let’s begin with academics because it’s the central point for most students. In most cases, learners don’t care much about their grades in movies. They miss lectures or spend all their time staring at smartphones during classes. Consequently, students get low grades. However, most undergraduates are concerned about their academic success in real life. They do their best not to miss lectures and make as many notes as possible to record all the information their tutors share.

Some movies portray tutors as fun people who do their best to engage students and present material in an interesting way. Indeed, there are a lot of tutors who excel in presenting new materials. However, in most cases, lectures are boring. Tutors share knowledge in a monotonous manner, so students need to listen to them attentively so as not to miss any crucial detail.

In movies, students always have a relaxed attitude to tests. They answer all the questions fast and don’t care about preparation. Nonetheless, in real life, students are very concerned about their finals. They strive to get top grades, so learners can spend an entire weekend reviewing all the materials to pass their test. Also, they are stressed about their finals because students strive to maintain high GPAs.

Parties

Many Hollywood movies portray students as people who cannot live without insane parties. According to movies, students frequently have large-scale parties that run the whole night. They gather hundreds of people who have fun and do crazy things that lead to negative consequences. However, the real students’ parties are different. Students don’t run insane parties with hundreds of undergraduates. In real life, only several people gather together and spend their time having fun. They can play board games or talk to each other to enjoy their spare time. Also, students can gather in large groups and hang out in bars.

The students’ parties in movies frequently imply limitless amounts of alcohol. Undergraduates drink as much as they can consume. In real life, students don’t have a limitless supply of beverages. They usually purchase a small number of alcoholic drinks and enjoy them. In some cases, fraternity members serve alcohol at parties. 

Greek Life

Greek life is an irreplaceable component of most movies about students. Fraternities have their houses and significantly impact the lives of undergraduates. Moreover, some students can hardly join fraternities, so applicants must overcome challenges to join communities. In movies, fraternities help their members. Their main responsibility is running awesome parties. 

Nevertheless, real life is different. Greek life isn’t very popular among students. Indeed, some education institutions have sorority houses and fraternities. But, most of them don’t run parties and don’t provide a significant impact on the lives of students. Most importantly, greek life is banned in many schools, so it’s hard to find such communities in real colleges. 

Homework

According to movies that portray students’ lives, learners don’t spend much time on homework. It’s hard to find movies where students spend many hours behind their desks. Those who watch Hollywood movies about US colleges may think undergraduates get no assignments at all. 

However, in real life, students spend a lot of time composing academic papers. They need to research a lot and write essays that match the provided instructions. Moreover, they need to get their papers completed upon certain deadlines. Consequently, learners frequently spend all-nighters to get their assignments done. In order not to fail their homework, a lot of learners hire writers online. They use the Internet to read reviews about writing services to find good ones and avoid ones like the eduguide pro service. 

Spare Time

Students in movies always have plenty of spare time. They can spend their free time attending interesting events, hanging out with friends, doing sports, traveling, etc. The lives of students are full of fun and joy. Indeed, most undergraduates wish real life would be the same. 

However, in real life, students lack spare time to have fun, do sports, and travel. They have a lot of responsibilities and tasks to cope with, so learners experience many issues with allocating idle time in their schedules. Moreover, a lot of students have part-time jobs. In essence, they are required to manage their schedule and prioritize tasks. Sometimes, they even have to compromise on healthy rest because of the lack of spare time in their schedules.

Derek Knightly
Derek Knightly
Co-creator of the website Tonights.TV. Who lives and breathes the world of movies and television.

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