9. Rudy - Based on a true story, Rudy centers on blue-collar kid Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger, an undersized kid who couldn't afford college but always dreamed of attending the University of Notre Dame. Rudy, played by Sean Astin, transfers from a junior college and is able to make it onto the practice squad, despite being smaller and lighter than everyone else on the team. After years of hard work (and a show of defiant support by his teammates), coach Dan Devine gives Rudy the chance to play in a real game.
8. Accepted - This fake-college fiasco features the Mac guy before he kicked ass with Bruce Willis and was reduced to a crying mess over Drew Barrymore. High school senior Bartleby Gaines, who's been rejected by every college he applied to, creates a fake university in order to please his endlessly-disappointed father. Through a series of unexpected, snowballing events, Bartleby finds himself running a campus full of kids in similar college-rejection situations to his own. Affectionately calling it the South Harmon Institute of Technology (S.H.I.T.), he's forced to defend his secret from suspicious parents, as well as the nearby Harmon College.
7. How High - Redman and Method Man play two potheads that fertilize marijuana with the ashes of their deceased buddy. The magic weed conjures the friend's ghost, who naturally helps the boys get perfect scores on their college entrance exams. Both stoners are admitted to Harvard, where they continue to succeed with the help of the magic weed, their nerdy nemesis steals the remainder of their heavenly stash.
6. Road Trip - A group of college buddies blasting across the country in an effort to beat the postal service. Josh (Breckin Meyer), distraught and insecure about his girlfriend Tiffany (who attends college across the country) convinces himself that she's been cheating and gets revenge by hooking up with Beth (Amy Smart), who documents the clothes-free events on video. Naturally, the sex tape gets accidentally mailed to the girlfriend, and Josh has to get to her before the tape does. Tom Green's creepy weirdo roommate character is the icing on the cake of this classic college film.
5. Revenge of the Nerds - Extreme geeks Lewis Skolnick (Robert Carradine) and Gilbert Lowell (Anthony Edwards) don't receive the best welcome on their arrival at Adams College: the jocks and frat boys burn down their own fraternity house, leading the guys to renovate an old run-down house. After the jocks and their sorority friends trash the place, an epically hilarious showdown ensues, making for one of the most memorably college movies ever.
4. PCU - This party-fest takes no prisoners as newcomer Tom Lawrence (Chris Young) manages to offend every social group possible during his campus visit. He meets Droz (Jeremy Piven) and his degenerate partier friends at their place known as The Pit. In order to stay on campus, members of The Pit throw a massive and party when funk musician George Clinton shows up. This is the movie that put Piven on the map, for better or worse.
3. Old School - A group of thirty-somethings fed up with their post-collegiate lives start a fraternity. They aren't students, but what does that matter? Will Ferrell's on board, making this tale of desperate clinging to youth a classic. The resentful Dean Pritchard (Jeremy Piven), wants to shut the house down, and hilarity ensues as the guys, along with their pledges, set out to fulfill all the requirements Pritchard creates.
2. Van Wilder - Ryan Reynolds disappears completely into the role of Van Wilder (or is it the other way around?), the crown prince of slackers, attending college for several years with no intentions of graduating. He pulls out all the stops to woo at Gwen (Tara Reid), a reporter for the school newspaper who's been sent to expose him. She also happens to be dating Richard, the typical frat boy caricature (with severe homoerotic undertones, of course) who sets out to destroy Van Wilder after discovering his motives. If it weren't for Tara Reid, this film could be number one on our list.
1. Animal House - Having set the bar for college movies, Animal House is brimming with exactly the type of debauchery and youthful self-pollution other films in the genre can barely scratch: sex, drugs, rock n' roll, alcohol and all the typical collegiate characters you'd see at any frat kegger. Seducing college-bound kids with an entirely new reason to head to the University, Animal House was likely responsible for the spike in college admissions the following year. The film was also likely responsible for just as many expulsions, with every overweight power-drinker from coast to coast emulating the late, great John Belushi.
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