In an article in the New York Post today, real-life NYU students respond to Gossip Girl's depiction of NYU freshman orientation. What do they think of the show's fictional keg parties on rooftops, characters requesting who they want to room with to the Housing Office, and the notion that NYU is cheaper than Yale? (Here's a Buzz recap of this week's goings-on to refresh your memories!)
Although one blogger gives the thumbs up to the show's reference to an "Art & the World" class he actually took his freshman year at Tisch, another one disses the idea of a rooftop party. "Don't the writers know," he snipes, "that in NYU housing we're forbidden to peek outside of our windows for the slight chance that we might kill ourselves?"
Do shows like Gossip Girl and Greek reflect college experience (fairly) accurately or is it all just fun and fantasy?
J Brand
Definitely not. I can't speak for all schools, but if a freshman at my school who was living in a dorm decided to throw a kegger on the roof, that would get shut-down pretty quickly, especially if there were signs pointing the way and a steady trail of underage kids bringing beer. And you cannot successfully request a roommate if that person doesn't also request you as a roommate. Greek does a much better job, probably because it's always been a show about the Greek system and always will be. So far, I'm not enjoying Gossip Girl: The College Years at all. The show worked so much better before.
1No, and it's not just because the double rooms on the show look like where they'd shove 6 kids together at my college. If someone dressed as posh as Blair I'd mistake her for a professor. And like Hokie said, there's no way anyone's throwing a kegger on the roof. At the very least, a few drunks should have fallen off. That's realistic.
2no, we dont have sushi parties and wasabi facials. most college students are broke, they cant afford to spend money on clothes and talk about boys all the time. they work, study hard and party hard.
3Is this just a post where you can see how many people you can get to say "no"?
4I still feel like "Undeclared" was the only show that accurately depicted college.
5Well no I don't think it reflects real college, but aren't we to assume that Dan actually received financial aid or an academic scholarship at NYU and that's why he went there instead of Yale--where they offered him neither?
6Cant wait to see the new Community College show coming out soon with Chevy Chase!
7Maybe the writer should have sent everyone to California University, where the original 90210 AND Saved By the Bell alums matriculated
8I go to NYU. And I wish they made it more like real-life NYU, just so I could see them filming around campus. Hehehehe. But nothing in the pilot looked like the actual campus.
9Um, I go to UNC chapel hill, a lot of us students are wealthy southern upper class. We've been known to have sushi parties, southern belle parties (where you have to be dressed in pre-war attire), and many other themed parties. So, maybe this isn't super realistic but some colleges do have themed parties such as those on Gossip Girl. And we have roof parties. Maybe they just need to relocate Gossip Girl to the southern part of heaven?
10Nope.
11Isn't that the whole point of GG though? It's not like it's ever been very realistic..
12I went to an elite private university, and I'm with sarahcateh - Gossip Girl isn't too far off. We were required to live on campus for the first two years, but a lot of people didn't want to deal with small dorm rooms so their parents paid for BOTH on-campus housing and posh off-campus apartments; fraternities regularly paid more than $20,000 for parties, and people dressed like Blair all over the place. College students with enough money will do whatever they want. (I'm not saying this is right, I'm just saying it's the way it was at my school.)
13I agree w/ hokiepokie's comments about the kegger-on-the-roof party and the freshmen roommate situation. As for how people dress for class & campus parties, you will always have your Blairs on campus who dress to the nines for class, but they are not the norm. Most dress for comfort in jeans or sweats, sometimes even extreme cases of PJ bottoms and a sweatshirt. When I was at Columbia 15 years ago, we had a rooftop party but it was very tame. We didn't have any "BEER" signs taped on the walls pointing to the roof because we didn't want our party shut down! We also didn't have a DJ with loud music blaring, it was just a mixer w/ beer, wine & munchies. I hope people watch shows like Gossip Girl for the entertainment value and not base everything they see on the screen as the absolute truth. I watch it and enjoy it...especially the exaggerations! As a graduate of an NYC university myself, I'm really loving this season so far.
14oh absolutely. The same way that Dawson's Creek, 90210 and the Bold and the Beautiful represent real life
15not at all...i don't watch GG for a real-life representation! Greek does a much better job, except they are supposed to be in Ohio and the show is filmed in Cali. i'm a midwesterner myself, and it is definitely not sunny all the time!
i've never seen a rooftop kegger, but i did help some guys in my dorm sneak in a keg inside a laundry hamper
16Well, I was on the roof many, many times my freshman year of college. There was a low roof between the two buildings in my complex (they're connected by a big shared lounge), and you could get onto it through my friend's window because they had no screen! We hung up there a lot ... my best friend and I would lay out there in bikini tops and short shorts to go tanning! Never had a kegger, or any beer at all ... but then my school simply doesn't HAVE keggers.
In 3 years, I've never seen a keg on campus. We just get cans upon cans upon cans of Keystone Light. Ew.
17We did once have a group of the baseball guys stand on the patio and yell OH MY GOD, THERE ARE NAKED GIRLS ON THE ROOF!
I had on a vibrantly striped teal and red bikini top .... definitely not naked!
18no, and who cares? I love the shows anyways
19Hell no and thank goodness for that. If you want drama and misery then you can surely find it, if you want good friendships with your friends then you can find other people who want that as well and have peace in your life. But seriously life is just not that dramatic and yes I'm a college student.
20There should be a "hell no" option.
21Of course it's fun and fantasy. Real life doesn't make for good TV. That's why there's "Reality" TV.
22Totally agree with Pistil. I wouldn't want Gossip Girl to accurately reflect college life. I want it to be a big, exaggerated, entertaining extravaganza of stupid pretty kids screwing with each other's lives and acting completely irresponsible without any real long-lasting consequences. That's what makes good TV!
23Definitely not, but if there were a show accurately depicting college life through my eyes (i.e. spending hours in the library), I don't know if I'd want to watch it. GG has always been about escapism for me.
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