Student Special: Top 10 Clichés in College Movies

1. Studying is so overrated
College students in movies have all the time in the world. Very rarely do we see anyone actually studying, let alone attending a class à la National Lampoon's Van Wilder. To be fair, lectures - as we all know - are not particularly exciting. Maybe, then, we should be thankful that they aren't included in the Hollywood version of university.

2. Every party is bonkers
So what are movie college students doing with all their free time? Partying, of course! In every college movie, there's at least one big party, where everybody gets drunk/high and a lot of crazy shit happens. We would love to attend one of these, because in real life, they can be pretty boring - especially when you compare them to the wild frenzy you see in Neighbors. These movies make us believe that every house party is some kind of hedonistic social event, similar to Freddie Mercury's '80s soirées. In reality, you sip on your beer for an hour, then leave at 11pm because some dude just took out his acoustic guitar to play a horrible version of 'Wonderwall'.

3. Fraternities/Sororities
In college movies, those crazy house parties are usually organised by fraternities or sororities. While I never went to university in the US, I'm pretty sure that Hollywood's depiction of them in the likes of Animal House or Old School is highly exaggerated (at least I hope so). The members are almost always painted as mean jocks who party all the time and don't care at all about education. And what's with these stupid rivalries with other fraternities/sororities? We're not in high school anymore!

4. Freshmen hazing
Speaking of mean frat boys: those poor freshman! Granted, freshmen hazing is still a thing (sadly), but Hollywood goes to great lengths to capitalise on this terrible tradition. In most movies - prime examples being Dazed And Confused and Everybody Wants Some! - it's used for a cheap laugh, although it's a very serious issue in American culture.

5. The Revenge Of The Nerds
It's the name of one of the most famous college movies of the '80s and a common theme in Hollywood's depiction of university life: the high school underdog gains new power in college and plans the ultimate revenge on his bullies. While done in a comical way in the titular The Revenge Of The Nerds, The Social Network tackles the theme more seriously, retelling the story of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who went from nerd to billionaire. College can be the place where you redefine your image and people's perception of you, so this cliché isn't always that far-fetched.

6. High School friends vs College friends
According to college movies, attending different universities is the end of every high school friendship (Netflix's The Last Summer deals with the romantic aspects of this). But fear not, you'll meet your best friend for life at college! While you may find new friends at uni, it is possible to stay in touch with your old friends, too. It may surprise you, but there are these things called mobile phones, with which you're able to talk to people all over the world! Crazy, right?

7. Your roommate will become the most important person in your life
Roommates take up a special place in college movies. Either they're the weirdest person with the weirdest hobbies ever (see Real Genius), or they are basically the better half of our protagonist. Sure, you live together in a tiny dorm room, but it's actually possible to not have some kind of strange connection to your roommate.

8. The love of your life is waiting for you in the next lecture room
If you don't meet your soulmate in high school, you might as well find them at college! Since Hollywood tends to romanticise everything - it shouldn't come as a surprise that they try to make us believe that college relationships are the real deal. If you found the love of your life in college: cool, good for you! But that's more the exception than the rule.

9. Authority figures are the WORST
Every movie needs a villain and in college films like National Lampoon's Animal House, authority figures are the enemies of our beloved protagonists. Whether they humiliate students in front of the class or just generally make their lives a living hell, professors - and especially deans - are the WORST. There are pretty bad professors out there in real life, but most of them just try to get you through your exams.

10. It's all about the sex
Why is everything in college movies sooo sexual? Frat boy comedies like Road Trip and American Pie 2 rely on sex jokes and sexual innuendos to entertain the audience. It kind of makes sense: you probably just started - or are about to - explore that world and that's important. But it's definitely not your sole focus. As we have established, there are exams to study for and boring parties to attend, remember? But what can we say? Sex sells.