College Is High School Part 2

"Title Card:This is an Iowa State College production. Tom Servo: "Iowa State College, the high school after high school.""

- Mystery Science Theater 3000, The Home Economics Story.

The transition from high school to college is typically one of the biggest transitions you'll make in your entire life. Abruptly gone are things like principal's offices, standardized school scheduling and forced/required teacher compassion. Similarly, "popular crowds" are mostly relegated to certain dormatories. And bullying now takes on a more subtle and "adult" form (for example, the "Young Republicans" vs. the "Young Democrats"). In college, no matter how athletic or smart you are, you're basically a nobody in the midst of a large and culturally-diverse student body. And, unlike in high school, your instructors and parents will not determine your general course of action. Your life plan is now completely up to you.

Many television and movie writers, however, seem unusually clueless about how different college life really is from high school life. Thus, they'll apply many popular high school tropes to university settings. Some, such as the Sadist Teacher, are perfectly applicable in a college setting. Others, however, are not. Either because they're unrealistically below the maturity level of your typical college student, or they're simply not feasible within the general structure of university life. For example, a team of thuggish football players perpetually bullying a shy/awkward freshman is highly unlikely in a university setting. As is a close-knit group of students having the exact same class schedule each semester.

One could argue that the reason why this trope exists is because most college-themed works are aimed at a high school audience. And, since most people would be uncomfortable watching "naive" high school students (for example) engaging in raunchy/anti-social behavior, writers instead use a college setting, while implementing enough high school tropes that their works will still be relatable to the average high schooler. In other instances, it's simply a matter of not doing the research.

Needless to say, this trope occurs in almost every college-themed comedy. Also, expect to see this in television shows starring a group of high schoolers that go off to college mid-series.

Advertising

 * The ads for "National American University" that aired during the mid-2000's. The jingle went like this: "Get your degree. Set yourself free." Sounds more like the attitude of somebody striving for a GED than a full-blown college education, doesn't it?

Films -- Live Action

 * Revenge of the Nerds. Despite having all the standard college stuff (fraternities, dorms, etc.), it feels more like a high school movie with its depiction of students and how they behave.
 * Justified in Animal House, since the Delta Tau Chi fraternity is depicted as the fraternity that all the burnouts and "dumb kids" join.
 * Less justified is the movie's use of a school bell, which universities typically don't have.
 * The 2008 sex-comedy College.
 * Possibly averted in Toy Story 3. Andy, who is now 18 years old and going off to college, is depicted as being appropriately more mature and compassionate than in the first two movies.

Literature

 * Both averted and lampshaded in Stephen King 's "Hearts In Atlantis": The first-person narrator of one story comments that he and his friend were wishing college were more like high school without even realizing it.

Live Action TV

 * Boy Meets World, which even went so far as to have school teacher Mr. Feeny follow Cory and his friends to college.
 * Family Matters continued using the same stale "big jocks and snobby girls perpetually pick on scrawny nerd" trope when Laura, Urkel and Eddie went off to college, even though it made almost no sense by that time.
 * This is particularly sad when you consider that Urkel going to college actually could've breathed some new life into the series and given it some interesting new storylines. Instead, the writers played it safe and continued using the same worn-out plots and conventions they've been using since Urkel became a mainstay.
 * Saved By The Bell: The College Years: the main characters usually shared the exact same classes and still found the time to remain as close knit as ever.
 * Also, things like romantic relationships seem to be a much bigger focus for them than their studies.
 * Beverly Hills, 90210, for the exact same reasons as SBTB.
 * Undeclared did a pretty decent job averting many of these conventions. However, the show's main characters seem unusually carefree and unambitious for college students.
 * On the other hand, we've all known at least one or two students like that in college. So, in a sense, that may be Truth in Television.
 * Averted in Sabrina the Teenage Witch. When Sabrina moved on to college, the show introduced an entirely new supporting cast and wrote the new characters more like college students than high schoolers. Also, Sabrina had been something of a Teacher's Pet in high school and had some difficulty adjusting to the higher standards and indifferent professors.
 * On Friends, when Ross delivers Girl Scout Cookies to the NYU dorms, they refer to him as "Cookie Dude!"
 * Also, most of the students at NYU (where Ross eventually works as a college professor) seem unusually immature for college students, let alone students at a school as prestigious and selective as NYU.
 * That's My Bush: The episode "A Poorly Executed Plan" has George's old college buddies come over for a visit. Let alone 50 year olds, these guys act immature even by HIGH SCHOOL standards!
 * Averted on the Freaks and Geeks episode "Noshing And Moshing." Neal's brother briefly comes home and discusses at the dinner table how different college is from high school (in a good way).
 * Played completely straight on Community.

Theater

 * The play Wicked. Glinda and Elphaba are in college, despite Glinda singing about the Pop U LAAAR and Fiyero being the big man on campus.