Our expectations of college

Yaasmiyn Hickman

Yapping with Yaz

The way college culture is presented throughout the years in movies/TV shows is toxic. They push the narrative of being attractive, party-heavy, and somehow maintaining a 4.0 GPA. Television portrays students effortlessly acing/passing all tests and classes like cake. The reality of taking hard courses is not shown. This implies that school is easy and so is maintaining a social life. The truth is, that every aspect of college is challenging and requires long nights and dedication. There are aspects of everyone’s academic career that test the student’s capabilities. This fraud has made it both difficult and easy to normalize struggling situations. Although everyone experiences some form of setbacks, no one talks about the pressure of it all. Television puts out this narrative of how a person’s romantic and social life should be. Painting a picture that shows nonstop parties, love triangles, and instant deep friendships isn’t a college norm. Making long-lasting relationships in college is difficult. Either it’s too awkward and childish to ask “Hey wanna be friends?” or people have their friends. Making friends can also turn into a drama-filled horror show. As for relationships, this generation is so afraid of rejection that their true emotions are never laid out on the table. There are factors like bad intentions and toxic situations, nevertheless, signs are pointing to those red flags. In television, they go by troupes, like friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, or forbidden love. It’s unrealistic movies like “Legally Blonde” or “Mean Girls” that set the notion that school is easy as long as you have “pretty privilege.” Because apparently, that’s the most important takeaway from life. This is what people expect when going to college. In America, there is a well-used term called party schools (colleges). These are universities with a high reputation for having large numbers of students who regularly party and drink alcohol or use drugs but do not spend much time studying. Examples would be: Tulane University, Florida State University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara. The outcome for students is the ongoing sense of freedom that is imagined. But it in fact makes the college process harder. The lack of focus plus the built-up tolerance to alcohol and drugs can cause addiction. But no one wants to watch a movie about the struggles and realizations that college has to offer. Hollywood sells it as the best years of a person in their late teens or early twenties life because of the connections and memories. Movies often gloss over the importance of time management, as well as financial realities. A lot of the time, students have to balance school work, studying, a part-time job, and kids, all while trying to sustain a social life. Lately, college TV shows have been moving to showcasing the normalcy of a messy life. The characters have been exhibiting acts like backstabbing and self-sabotage to be relatable to the viewers. All in all, college culture is a combination of what television portrays because it is embedded into our minds at a young age. The transition to adulthood is complex, and there are so many different categories that people fit under. What they don’t say is the pressures eventually fade away into achievements. In the end, college isn’t a movie or easy lightwork. It’s a point in life where hard work pays off, connections are built, and finding yourself is expected.