2 November 1998
| The TV show's depiction of college life is one big lie. Here's the real story.
Hollywood is all at witter because an allegedly 19-year-old writer for Felicity, the hot new TV series about a college student, shaved 13 years off her age. Hey, what's a tiny white lie when the whole show is baloney. Its 5.4 million weekly viewers get a warped slice of college life in the saga of Felicity Porter, who ditched Stanford pre-med at high school graduation to follow unrequited love interest Ben to the University of New York after he wrote a sappy note in her yearbook. Read on for a Felicity reality check. MYTH: High school seniors can call a school in the summer and get in for fall. REALITY: Maybe an all-American running back could. But prestigious colleges like the show's UNY (a New York University clone) usually have waiting lists. "We turned away a number of kids whose [deposit] checks [were] postmarked May 2," says Duncan Murdoch, director of admission at the University of Southern California, which finalized its fall class on May 1. Fairness would put Felicity behind students who applied on time - between December and March at most schools. MYTH: Parents can pull strings to get you into an alma mater. REALITY: Felicity's dad says he did just that to get her into Stanford, his alma mater. Sorry, cronyism typically doesn't work. But "legacy" status - being an alum's child - breaks the tie between two equal applicants, says Stanford Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Robert Kinnally. MYTH: Last-minute financial aid is just a phone call away. REALITY: Felicity's rich folks initially say they won't pay for UNY, so she gets what must be a whopper of a loan (if UNY is as pricey as New York University, she'd need $30,000 a year) and a work-study gig. In fact, the only government aid she could count on is an unsubsidized Stafford Loan of $2,625 for her freshman year. She'd have to prove financial need to get more. With parents who can afford to pay cash for Stanford, that's "highly unlikely," says Kathy Chi, a counselor at Palo Alto's Achieva College Prep Centers. And Felicity would be too late for work-study, which schools dole out to those in need on a first-come, first-served basis. She could apply for a private loan, like Nellie Mae's Excel Family Education Loan, but a dependent minor with no credit history would need a creditworthy adult co-signer. MYTH: Dorm "RAs" can date students. REALITY: Yes, it happens. But resident advisers, who are university employees as well as students, are discouraged from romancing residents, especially freshmen. MYTH: Textbooks are hard to find. REALITY: Felicity combs Manhattan in vain for her chemistry text. "Did she look it up on Amazon? No?" asks Columbia University sophomore Aimee Silverman indignantly. When the college bookstore runs out, students turn to online shops. As for Felicity's chem class with 30-some students: In real life, she'd sit in an auditorium with at least 100 students and speakers for those in the back. MYTH: Dorm rooms are really big. REALITY: You could fit two sets of bunk beds in Felicity's spacious abode, and most colleges probably would. MYTH: Dorm parties are where it's at. REALITY: "People get food and leave," says Silverman of Columbia. "No one would stay in their dorm on a Friday night." FELICITOUS FICTION For a more authentic look at college life, try these novels: Tell Me If the Lovers Are Losers by Cynthia Voigt (Fawcett, $4.50). Three roommates bond at a women's college in the 1960s. A young adult novel. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald (various publishers). His 1920 book chronicles heartbreak and hubris at Princeton in the Jazz Age. The Whisper of the River by Ferrol Sams (Viking, $11.95). A master of the sophomoric prank at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., Sams based this lighthearted novel on his 1930s college career. |