Why Grown-ish Depicts the College Life So Perfectly

Many people have their own opinions about how college life really is, but no show has depicted it quite like Grown-ish did. This show demonstrated just how hard it is juggling our grades, love life, and social life, while simultaneously trying to find ourselves and grow into successful adults. Here are 10 things that Grown-ish has done that perfectly depict how college life really is:

1. The Hoe Life

College is when you’re finally free from your parents. You don’t have a curfew. You can go out to the club any day of the week and, and especially, you don’t have to ask permission to date. Although this sounds like heaven, it’s not as easy as it sounds. The first semester of college, girls normally go through a “hoe” phase and date as many guys (or girls) as they can. They experiment, they multi-date, and they let it all go. In one episode, Zoe Johnson, the main character of Grown-ish, dates two guys at the same time, and one of her friends starts dating people from her same sex. This was something that she couldn’t really do while living with her parents. Like it or not, every girl has been through at least SOME part of this hoe life, especially in freshmen year.

2. The Stress

Throughout the entirety of this show, you can see how Zoe and her friends struggle with the stress that all their classes bring. Juggling a social life and school can be difficult. A big concern of college freshmen is that they won’t have a balanced life, but they quickly find a nice rhythm as the semester goes on.

3. The Heartbreak

After experiencing The Hoe Life, Zoe falls in love with the most famous college athlete in the country. At first, it was all rainbows and sunshine. It was her first love and her first time. But after a few problems, Zoe ends up with her first heartbreak. This not only shows how heartbreak is inevitable (and how normally you get heartbroken as a freshman when you’re stupid and desire love with all your heart), and how your friends will always be there for you when it happens.

4. The “Finding Yourself” Stage

Throughout the show, you can see how literally EVERY character is trying to find themselves. Zoe struggles through the entirety of college life. Aaron struggles to see a future that has to do with his studies/passions. Nomi tries to define her sexuality, and Ana tries new things that she’s never tried before college.

5. College Athletes

This show depicts perfectly how college athletes are seen as “all that”, and yet have to deal with the hardest pressure and get used by colleges. Grown-ish explains how much money colleges make in every game compared to how much money they give the

students. For example, to get one of the best student athletes, colleges give them a full-ride. This leads to people thinking that the college is “risking” losing money just to have a good basketball team when, in reality, one student’s tuition doesn’t compare to how much money a college really does in every NCAA game. Another example is when Sky and Jazmin, two broke college track runners, explain how all the college gives them is free gear for running, leaving them with no time to get a good job because of the track time commitment and homework from school. Although this seems tough, colleges are willing to do anything to keep their best players looking good in college, even cheating on tests in order to get them to pass the class and not be kicked out of the team for failing.

6. The Economic Struggle

Jazmin and Sky are the perfect example of this. Two girls from the hood who got into college as athletes (the only way they could afford it). The show constantly demonstrates how they struggle to make money for things like waxing, clothes, and even food.

7. The “Being Accepted” Struggle

Although in every episode, one can see how clearly everyone is just trying to be accepted as who they are. There is one specific episode that showed this struggle perfectly. Nomi, who identifies as bisexual, decides to date another bisexual guy without knowing his sexuality. After she found out about this, she broke up with him because she thought that a guy being bisexual is “weird” (hence, the double standard). This demonstrates how difficult it is trying to be yourself and not being rejected for it, even in college filled with people of your own generation and similar opinions/thoughts.

8. The Midnight Class

This damn midnight class… Everyone has had at least one class in the worst possible time. Whether it be too early, too late, or just right in the middle of the day, there is always a semester… or two… or several, where you get the worst schedule. Normally this happens during freshman year, when you don’t know what is the best hour or what schedule fits you best. Hence, the damn midnight class.

9. The Diversity

Let me break it down:

-Two black girls from the hood

-One black girl from the suburbs

-One woke black guy

-One “Jaden Smith” light-skin guy

-One Bisexual Jewish white girl

-One Cuban Immigrant

-One Indian guy (who acts pretty white)

It can’t get more diverse than that!

10. The Freshmen Mess

Like it or not, as freshmen we all were well… a damn mess. We lived in a new place with new people, taking responsibility of our own life, and not having our parents around to tell us what to do. All of this = mess. Although, after some time, we got the hang of it.

This show perfectly depicts all of the struggles one goes through as a freshman in college and all the stupid things we do, and WOW were we stupid our freshman year!

• grown-ish
• tv shows