College in the media

In the media, college life is most often referred to as a very stressful, but at the same time a very exciting part of life. In the MTV show called “College Life”, there are various episodes where the story revolves around students having fun and partying more than studying and stressing out for tests. They are usually in some kind of a mess such as being broke and having to move out, breaking up, or wild spring breaks, etc. Additionally, in the movie “College (2008)”, three high school guys go to a nearby University and pretend to be freshmen. They go there to find out how “wild” college can be. They pull off various pranks around the school and get in trouble. The pattern of similarity about college life is very obvious in the media today. Wild parties, spring breaks, pranks, money trouble, etc.

In the movie “College”, the high school students pull off lots of pranks around campus, and discover how “wild” college is. Some girls also like them thinking they are freshmen for real. They do outrageous things and portrays college life as just partying, drinking, etc instead of stressful life, studying, anxiety, and more. I think this kind of a situation is not heard of today. That is why it makes this movie a unique source because of the representation of college life. I have never seen or read any media other than “College” which portrays college life like as it does.

Analyzing the sources above, and their portrayal of college life, media teaches us that college is less about studying and more about fun. The academic part of college has gotten no attention at all from the media. The reality is that college isn’t all about having fun, it is also about sleepless nights and “finals week”. The consequence of this is that when people are ready to go to college, they have expectations which are shaped by the media. I am not saying that college is not a fun experience. I actually can’t wait to go to college myself. But I believe that the media is shaping the people’s views of only some aspects of college.