Hollywood is notorious for setting up false expectations for many of life’s stages, and college is no exception. While movies and TV can be awesome sources of entertainment, and allow us to mentally escape and indulge in wild storylines and casts of characters, they can also provide plenty of misunderstandings about how their realities, translate to a real person’s reality. These shows are so relatable on so many levels it is easy to get confused as to what is attainable for your own life. Teenage drama series love to fill our hopes and dreams with ivy league schools and spring breaks in Europe, and who would not want that for themselves? What these shows tend to leave out is who is footing the bill for all these experiences.
The Contents of Your Wallet
A typical college student can barely scrape together the funds to split a pizza 4 ways with a set of roommates, yet there is a plethora of fictional college students ‘just like us’ dining out several nights and week and being sure to never miss a coffee run before class. And this is after figuring out how to pay for the classes in the first place. Where are the characters that had to take out student loans with a private lender in order to pay for their education? Do not let the glamour of TV and movies set you up for failure. Recognize the large gap that exists between fiction and your real life and let that motivate you to research the smartest ways to borrow money to earn your education without the financial burden dragging you down during your years of already stressful study.
The Illusion of Actual Free Time
The social benefits from attending college, and the personal growth that you will experience during those years is an important piece of the collegiate puzzle, but there is no bigger piece, than the coursework itself. Attending class, studying, participating in focus groups and internships, these are all components that are at the forefront of a real student’s daily schedule, but that does not make for good TV. That’s not to say that there will never be downtime, but the sleep until noon every day, party every night, barely make it class characters that we love to watch slack off are not good role models for the everyday student with hopes of actually graduating and entering into the work force responsibly.
How Grown Up You Will Feel and Act
College is serious, earning your education is serious, being responsible for yourself and your lifestyle is serious, but also, do not grow up too fast. Many movies and television dramas have at least one main character who is so busy trying to be impressive and excel beyond their peers that they electively miss out on the social charms that help to cultivate a well-rounded college experience. Keep your priorities in line but do not forget to add fun to your list of them. College is a phase of life, not just a one-day event, use it as an opportunity to extend your learning outside the classroom and develop the character traits that will serve you as a young professional, when you get there, eventually.