We all know that TV shows are terribly inaccurate when it comes to college admissions, so which show made you cringe the most?
The most notable ones for me were 90210 and Gossip Girl. In Gossip Girl, Serena is accepted and Blair is waitlisted, so Serena declines the offer so Blair can get in. Apparently I’m Gossip Girl world, you can choose who takes your spot when you matriculate at a different school. In 90210, they all get into their dream schools, and Max is supposed to go to MIT, but like a day before classes starts he’s ends up transferring to Caltech to be with his true love. Last time I checked, you couldn’t switch between amazing schools at your own will.
off topic: did not expect calicash to be a high-schooler
on topic: the multitude of shows that portray average white girls getting into Harvard because they got a part-time job or got an A on one test (insignificant accomplishments leading to highly unscaled benefits)
Pretty Little Liars.
Spencer, quadruple legacy, rejected from Penn ED. She did academic decathlon, many internships, took multiple AP foreign languages (not a native speaker), won many national awards, etc.
Paige, swimmer, accepted to Stanford. Suggests that her gf (also a swimmer) apply and go to Stanford (because obviously swimmers are shoo-ins).
Oh and in High School Musical 3, Juiliard recruiters were watching the Spring musical (which was really like in June) for admissions when they likely wouldn’t have been able to do that so late.
Haha. I remember watching an episode of “Good Luck Charlie” with my younger sibling where a Yale interviewer came into their home for the interview. The whole time the cameras were rolling and the mom kept barging in to make personal comments. Miraculously, during the final episode, she got in.
High School Musical isn’t a show, but dear god. Apparently Gabriella got into Stanford by partying over summer vacation and playing Romeo and Juliet with Troy. Okay. I mean I know she did that supposed “musical” and decathlon, but I didn’t see her do anything else? I could be wrong since I haven’t seen the 3rd movie and I barely remember the 1st and 2nd, but it’s kind of misleading for kids to think it’s that simple to get into Stanford…
@CaliCash the video on awkward wasn’t for financial aid. It was a scholarship application. Whether those exist at Columbia or not, i don’t know, but there are some scholarships that can have video application parts.
This isn’t a TV show either, but the Disney movie “Ice Princess” talks about a girl doing a summer project for a scholarship to Harvard. Hahaha.
I don’t watch many… teen… TV shows. I guess Once Upon a Time might count? I dunno. I don’t watch any realistic fiction, so I don’t know much about that.
However, something I wonder: how on Once Upon a Time, a character got into Harvard Law School even though there was likely no evidence of anything she’d done. When she was a major-ish character, she didn’t even have a job… I dunno (by the way, Katherine Nolan, if anyone watches the show–Charming’s ex-wife/fiance/god knows what relations are on OUAT).
Not a TV show nor college but I’m still wondering how Ron Weasley got into Hogwarts; you’d think that there would be more qualifications then just being a wizard. His family isn’t wealthy either; you’d think he would go to Vincent Clortho Public Wizard School or something!
@topaz1116 I remember seeing that! And if I remember correctly, she turns down Harvard during the interview for a life of figure skating haha. And I’ve seen the Once Upon A Time episode as well.
High School musical, Good Luck Charlie, Ice Princess, Once Upon A Time… I think Disney just likes putting in big name schools in their shows regardless of whether it is realistic
@psithurisma not to mention Spencer is a varsity athlete and comes from piles of money…! They also show all four of the girls in the same English class every few episodes… Like Spencer and Hanna would have any classes together…
And they show Spencer having a lunch period, which she would never.
And they show Spencer with a small cross-body bag for a backpack… like she would be able to fit any books or notebooks in there!!
PLL never shows public transportation (not even a school bus) , except for one random bus to take people to a neighboring town (which is actually an amazing idea, I wish they had that in my area lol, but there would be so many stops it would take forever…still kinda worth it when you can’t drive though…)
@Spiral7 At my school everyone has a thirty minute lunch and there are no classes during that time. Regular classes are around 50 minutes. So maybe it’s like that at Spencer’s school, too. But I don’t watch that show so I wouldn’t know.
In A Cinderella Story, Sam got into Princeton. While she was smart, she had no ECs what so ever, obviously due to the fact that she probably wasn’t allowed to, but it’s not like her academics were THAT stellar.
Also I think everyone’s forgetting that in Hannah Montana, Miley, who struggled academically, Lily, who was never stellar, and the two mean girls (Amber and Ashley?) ALL got into Stanford.
Disney, stop giving little kids unrealistic expectations that these schools take everyone.
