College-Themed Movie List

 

Accepted (2006) with Jonah Hill, Blake Lively and Justin Long -- A high school slacker who's rejected by every school he applies to opts to create his own institution of higher learning, the South Harmon Institute of Technology, on a rundown piece of property near his hometown.

 

Admission (2013) with Tina Fey and Paul Rudd -- A Princeton admissions officer who is up for a major promotion takes a professional risk after she meets a college-bound alternative school kid who just might be the son she gave up years ago in a secret adoption.

 

All the Right Moves (1983) with a young Tom Cruise -- A high school footballer desperate for a scholarship and his headstrong coach clash in a dying Pennsylvania steel town.

 

American Pie 2 (1999) -- The continuing bawdy adventures of a group of friends reuniting after their first year of college.

 

Animal House (1978) with John Belushi and Karen Allen -- At a 1962 College, Dean Vernon Wormer is determined to expel the entire Delta Tau Chi Fraternity, but those troublemakers have other plans for him.

 

At Middleton (2013) with Andy Garcia and Vera Farmiga -- Two parents fall in love over the cousre of a single day while playing hooky from their children's college tour. 

 

Back to School (1986) with Rodney Dangerfield and Sally Kellerman -- To help his discouraged son get through college, a funloving and obnoxious rich businessman decides to enter the school as a student himself.

 

Bedtime for Bonzo  (1951) with Ronald Reagan -- College prof Peter Boyd tries to salvage his professional and personal reputation by using a lab chimp to prove that environment trumps heredity in behavioral development.

 

Bend it Like Beckham (2002) with Parminder Nagra & Keira Knightley -- The daughter of orthodox Sikh rebels against her parents' traditionalism by running off to Germany with a football team (soccer in America).

 

Boys and Girls (2000) with Freddie Prinze Jr.- A friendship is put to the ultimate test when two best friends wind up in bed together.

 

Breaking Away (1979) with Dennis Christopher and Dennis Quaid -- A small-town teen obsessed with the Italian cycling team vies for the affections of a college girl. (Lots of non-college stuff, but still good movie about town-gown relationships.)

 

Can't Hardly Wait (1998) with Jennifer Love Hewitt -- Multicharacter teenage comedy about high school graduates with different agenda of life on graduation night.

 

Clueless (1995) with Alicia Silverstone -- A rich high school student tries to boost a new pupil's popularity, but reckons without affairs of the heart getting in the way.

 

College (1927!) with Buster Keaton -- To reconcile with his girlfriend, a bookish college student tries to become an athlete.

 

Dead Man on Campus (1998) -- Two college roommates go out and party, resulting in bad grades. They learn of the clause that says, "If your roommate dies, you get an A," and decide to find someone who is on the verge, so to speak, to move in with them.

 

Dear White People (2014) -- The lives of four black students at an Ivy League college converge after controversy breaks out due to the ill-conceived theme of the campus humor magazine's annual Halloween party.

 

Down To You  (2000) with Freddie Prinze and Julia Stiles -- A young man wins and loses the first serious love of his life. (The majority of the story takes place while they are in college.)

 

Everybody's All-American (1988) with with Dennis Quaid, Jessica Lange, and John Goodman -- first part takes place in a college setting

 

The Freshman (1925) with Harold Lloyd -- Nerdy college student will do anything to become popular on campus.

 

Good News (1947) -- At fictitious Tait University in the Roaring 20's, co-ed and school librarian Connie Lane falls for football hero Tommy Marlowe. Unfortunately, he has his eye on gold-digging vamp Pat McClellan. Tommy's grades start to slip, which keeps him from playing in the big game. Connie eventually finds out Tommy really loves her and devises a plan to win him back and to get him back on the field.

 

Good Will Hunting (1997) with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, & Robin Williams -- Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT, has a gift for mathematics but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.

 

Higher Learning (1995) -- People from all different walks of life, encounter racial tension, rape, responsibility, and the meaning of an education on a university campus.

 

Horse Feathers (1932) with the Marx Bros. -- Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the new president of Huxley University, hires bumblers Baravelli and Pinky to help his school win the big football game against rival Darwin University.

 

How I Got into College (1989) with Anthony Edwards and lots of really bad haircuts -- The simple story of two young Michigan high school students, Jessica, Class President, Local Smart Girl, and object of Marlon's affections attempt to get into a small Pennsylvania college. Jessica fights off her parent's expectation of going to their alma mater of the University of Michigan, while Marlon fights his grades and SAT scores.

 

Legally Blonde (2001) with Reese Witherspoon - When a blonde sorority queen is dumped by her boyfriend, she decides to follow him to law school to get him back and, once there, learns she has more legal savvy than she ever imagined.

  

Liberal Arts with Josh Radnor -- filmed on the campus of Kenyon College -- When 30-something Jesse returns to his alma mater for a professor's retirement party, he falls for Zibby, a college student, and is faced with a powerful attraction that springs up between them.

 

Nutty Professor (1996) with Eddie Murphy and Jada Pinkett Smith -- Grossly overweight Prof. Sherman Klump, desperate to lose weight takes a special chemical that turns him into the slim but obnoxious Buddy Love.

 

Loser (2000)  - A college student, branded a loser by his roommates and booted from the dorm, falls in love with a coed who has eyes for their condescending professor.

 

Love Story (1970) with Ryan O'Neal and Ali McGraw -- A boy and a girl from different backgrounds fall in love regardless of their upbringing - and then tragedy strikes.

 

Malice (1993) with Nicole Kidman and Alec Baldwin. -- A tale about a happily married couple who would like to have children. Tracy teaches art, Andy's a college dean. Things are never the same after she is taken to hospital and operated upon by Jed, a "know all" doctor. (Creepy and not recommended. Some of it was filmed on the Smith College campus.)

 

Mona Lisa Smile (2003) with Julia Roberts and Kirsten Dunst -- A free-thinking art professor teaches conservative 1950s Wellesley girls to question their traditional social roles. (A major chick flick--good choice if you're trying to get girls interested in a women's college.)

 

Old School (2003) with Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Will Ferrell --  Three friends attempt to recapture their glory days by opening up a fraternity near their alma mater.

 

Orange County (2002) with Colin Hanks and Jack black -- A guidance counselor mistakenly sends out the wrong transcripts to Stanford University under the name of an over-achieving high schooler.

 

Outside Providence (1999) -- After one too many run ins with the law, a punk teenager from a working class background is sent to prep school by his frustrated dad, and learns a thing or two.

 

Oxford Blues (1984) with Rob Lowe and Ally Sheedy (so young!) -- An American student from Las Vegas hacks into Oxford's computers to get himself admitted, then struggles to fit in with England's elite.

 

PCU (1994) -- A high school senior visits college for the weekend, and stay at the wildest house on campus in this classic tale of anti-political-correctness.

 

Perfect Score (2004) with Scarlet Johansson -- Six high school seniors decide to break into the Princeton Testing Center so they can steal the answers to their upcoming SAT tests and all get perfect scores.

 

Pitch Perfect with Anna Snow and Rebel Wilson -- Beca, a freshman at Barden University, s cajoled into joining The Bellas, her school's all-girls singing group. Injecting some much needed energy into their repertoire, The Bellas take on their male rivals in a campus competition.

 

The Prince and Me (2004) with Julia Stiles, Luke Mably, and Miranda Richardson --  Paige Morgan, a free-spirited American college student attending a Wisconsin university, meets and falls in love with one of her classmates, but what she doesn't know is that he's actually a Danish prince, Edvard or Eddie, spending his "gap year" (before having to perform his princely duties) hiding in America disguised as a regular guy...

 

Puddle Cruiser filmed on the campus of Colgate University done by five guys from Colgate University -- A student falls in love with her fellow student who is defending his buddies in university court. He "proves his love" (more like his masculinity) to her by playing rugby against her ex-boyfriend.

 

Real Genius (1985)  with a young Val Kilmer -- Teenage geniuses deal with their abilities while developing a laser. 

 

Real Women Have Curves (2002) -- This is the story of Ana, a first generation Mexican-American teenager on the verge of becoming a woman. She lives in the predominately Latino community of East Los Angeles. Freshly graduated from high school, Ana receives a full scholarship to Columbia University. Her very traditional, old-world parents feel that now is the time for Ana to help provide for the family, not the time for college.

 

Revenge of the Nerds (1984) with Robert Carradine, Anthony Edwards, Timothy Busfield -- At a big campus, a group of bullied outcasts and misfits resolve to fight back for their peace and self respect.

 

Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987) -- The rising college nerds set out to a convention in Florida, but are not welcomed by the Alpha Beta representatives.

 

Risky Business (1983) -- A Chicago teenager is looking for fun at home while his parents are away, but the situation quickly gets out of hand.

 

Road Trip (2000) -- Four friends take off on an 1800 mile road trip to retrieve an illicit tape mistakenly mailed to a girl friend.

 

Rudy (1993) -- Rudy has always been told that he was too small to play college football. But he is determined to overcome the odds and fulfill his dream of playing for Notre Dame.

 

Rushmore (1998) -- The extracurricular king of Rushmore preparatory school is put on academic probation.

 

Scream 2 (1997) -- Two years after the first series of murders, a new psychopath dons the Ghostface costume and a new string of killings begins.  This second installment in the slasher series takes place while the main character is in college.  (Filmed on Agnes Scott College's campus in Atlanta, GA.)

 

School Daze (1988) directed by Spike Lee -- A not so popular young man wants to pledge to a popular fraternity at his historically black college.

 

Skulls (2000) -- Luke's exultance at being selected for The Skulls (a secret society bred within the walls of a prominent Ivy League Campus) is soon overshadowed when he realises that all is 'not well in Wonderland'. For The Skulls is a breeding ground for the future powerful and elite. It's not only a far cry from his working class background, but it also hallows its own deep and dark secrets.

 

Soul Man (1986) To achieve his dream of attending Harvard, a pampered teen poses as a young black man to receive a full scholarship. 

 

St. Elmo's Fire (1985) -- A group of friends, just out of college, struggle with adulthood.

 

Stealing Harvard (2002) -- A middle-class man turns to a life of crime in order to finance his niece's first year at Harvard University.

 

Taps (1981) with a  very young Tom Cruise and Sean Penn -- Military cadets take extreme measures to insure the future of their academy when its existence is threatened by local condo developers.

 

The Graduate (1967) -- Recent college graduate Benjamin Braddock is trapped into an affair with Mrs. Robinson, who happens to be the wife of his father's business partner and then finds himself falling in love with her daughter, Elaine.

 

The Sterile Cuckoo (1969) with Liza Minelli --  Two students from neighboring colleges in upstate New York are swept up in a tragic romantic interlude calling for a maturity of vision beyond their experience of capabilities.

 

The Sure Thing (1985) with John Cusack --  A college student plans a cross-country trip to get laid, but ends up traveling with a young woman. They hate each other, so naturally...

 

Urban Legend (1998) -- A serial killer stalks students on a college campus, killing them based on popular urban legends.

 

Varsity Blues (1999) -- In small-town Texas, high school football is a religion. The head coach is deified, as long as the team is winning and 17-year-old schoolboys carry the hopes of an entire community onto the gridiron every Friday night.

 

Where the Boys Are (1960) -- Four very different college girls drive to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for spring break and seek out various adventures and romance for themselves.

 

With Honors (1994) with Joe Pesci and Brendan Fraser -- Convinced his thesis will have him graduate with honors from Harvard University, a stuffy student finds himself at the mercy of a homeless man's demands when he holds the papers hostage.

 

(New titles and formatting improvements in July 2014 were inspired by Janis Allen of www.onecollegeavenue.com. Synopses have for the most part been brazenly copied from the good people of IMDb.)