Before you go to college, you may want to get a digest of what college life may be like. You can talk to college students, counselors and you can read accounts of life on campus by graduates, but you can also watch a number of classic movies. Sure, you don’t want to get all of your information about what college is like from movies, but you can get a glimpse. Plus, watching these movies are often motivating, funny and they can break down some walls about college being a place where you will be locked in your dorm studying all night. Oftentimes, college can be fun. Once you get your work done, a university can be a place of discovering – for meeting other people and finding yourself. Here are five must-see movies about college life.
- National Lampoon’s Animal House
Considered one of the funniest movies of all time, National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) is a perfect, albeit exaggerated portrayal of life in the frat house. The movie perfectly encapsulates the different kinds of Greek life, you’ll find in a college. Of course, you shouldn’t lead by example, but watching Animal House will get you amped up for pledging to get into one of the fraternities on your new campus.
- Good Will Hunting
On a heavier note, Good Will Hunting (1997), which was written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck – and directed by the imitable Gus Van Sant – takes a look at a brilliant genius at MIT who solves an impossible math equation. However, the lead character is not a student at MIT – he is a janitor. The student is quickly discovered solving the equation and is urged to study at the college – if he can only clean up his act.
- The Social Network
This is a movie all people should see if they dream of using their time at college as a launch pad to starting a global business. Of course, The Social Network (2010), directed by David Fincher, takes a look at the life of Mark Zuckerberg, the genius behind Facebook. However, the film focuses on the time when Zuckerberg starts Facebook as a student at Harvard. Of course, he drops out of Harvard and becomes a billionaire with a sole mission to connect all people on earth through social media.
- Rudy
If you are a sports fanatic – and if you are always rooting for the underdog – Rudy (1993) is the movie you want to see. Rudy, the titular lead character, doesn’t have enough money to attend his dream college, Notre Dam. However, he struggles to make it out of his father’s steel mill with just enough money and winds up gaining acceptance to the school. He even makes it to the school’s fabled football team. Of course, you won’t need to struggle to get into Notre Dam, but you could shoot for GW’s public relations degree or maybe even a film degree from USC.
- Back to School
If you want to watch one of the funniest comedies about college, you’ll want to watch back to school, which stars Rodney Dangerfield as a wealthy father who signs up for college to encourage his son to do the same. It’s a funny tale about how it is never too late to go back to college. In the end, it’s also a tale of how important a college degree is in the world – no matter who you are.