Photo Credit: Meyerowitz, Rick. 1978.
Most of us have watched a movie set on a college campus whether it is Animal House, 22 Jump Street, Pitch Perfect, any American Pie movie, etc. These movies may be very different but almost all of them portray college as a place where the party never ends and that notion can be found across different media platforms. For many high school students, international or not, their idea of college is a lot of drinking, partying, some hard classes, and some sleeping through classes. This is not to suggest that students are less ambitious because of this especially as college students are more ambitious than ever with the competition to get into to top colleges getting harder and harder every year. It is just to bring to light the idea of college culture in the United States. Coming to a school like Emory University I was aware that it was not going to be the typical party school with huge tailgates and excessive frat parties because, first of all, sports aren't big here and we don't have a football team, secondly Emory seemed like a fun school that had a balance of work and play. It seemed like the type of school where students wanted to enjoy themselves but also wanted to succeed and learn. After being here for a semester I can say that Emory is that type of school as most of the friends I've made here are driven and smart along with being fun and knowing how to take a break. I feel as though Emory is not the type of school that is the definition of college culture in America and, from what I've heard from my friends, many colleges aren't the stereotype either. I am well aware that there are colleges in the U.S. where the party never stops for all four years but it seems as though, at most of them, you can decide not to drink or party and have it not be a big deal. So this notion, found in our media, that college is only drinking plants a bad seed in a lot of high school students' brains. It's bad because many students will come into college expecting to get drunk non-stop, which can send some people out of control as many college freshman do not know how to handle their alcohol just yet. This idea can also be bad as a lot of these movies and TV shows portray college boys getting with as many girls as they want. With that, some boys may assume that any and every girl is looking to 'hook-up' which is obviously a big issue that can be considered part of the cause in college rape culture. Overall, the picture of college that media paints is a risky one because it sends students to college with unrealistic and some dangerous expectations of what the next four years of their life will be like.