Yesterday, a friend of mine sent me the video to Jarret's Room which is an ongoing skit that is done on SNL. Admittedly, I am not the biggest fan of this skit, but I find that it has a lot of truisms about college life that I would like to share with you right now. I find it quite impressive how the writers at SNL were able to accentuate some of the personalities that you may encounter on your own college journey. Let's begin.

Junior Year Numero Tres: At the beginning of the video, Jarret says that he is back for his Junior year numero tres. While this is pretty ridiculous and funny to think about, the fact of the matter is that people don't always finish their college careers in just four years. As you can see from the graph depicted in this link, most college students (51%) take up to 5 years to graduate from their studies. Although Jarret is an extreme example, Junior year numero tres, you will find that it is not that uncommon for people to take more than four years these days.

Halloween Party: Jarret makes reference to a Halloween Party. In my own personal experience in college, Halloween has been one of the most exciting and amazing party times of the year. This is the result of many factors. First, it is in the thick of football season, and being at a school that is great for football, Michigan, this adds to the intensity of the event. Second, everyone gets excited to party. On a regular Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night when you're just heading out to the bar with some buds is great, but you may not necessarily be pumped to go out and party. For Halloween, everyone is just ready to party and have a good time. This societal feeling of goodness trickles down to everyone and creates a mass hysteria of sorts. Third, the actual Halloween parties are as good as you imagine them to be. There is no hype here without any backup. These parties are awesome and girls dressing up in the least amount of clothing possible and calling themselves a bunny rabbit or some shit is great.

McGinn has Psycho Kids: There will most likely be one dorm at your college that has some kids that are a little bit "off". I'm really not sure how this happens, but the University must have some device that puts all the awkward kids in the same vicinity. Jarret attributes the "psycho kids" to the food...this is probably true.

Because I got high: In college, there are literally no obstacles to getting drugs, especially stuff like marijuana. Theres always going to be a guy who knows a guy. But be careful of the drugs you get into. Drugs have different potencies, and you should always use moderation in whatever it is that you do, whether its drinking or doing drugs. Try it out, but don't let it take your life over.

Baked Lays: This is as funny as it sounds.

Freshman 15: While this is typically terminology that relates to girls and their collective habit of gaining 15 pounds during the first year of college, probably most attributed to alcohol, it can also relate to some dude who just wants to hook up with some freshman chicks. Girls, beware of this guy, because he is out there. His feeding season is mostly during the first semester of your freshman year, and especially during the first couple "party" weeks of college in general. At this time you are most vulnerable because you're in a new environment and are trying to figure out how things work and operate. Beware but have fun at the same time!

Keggar...Quarters: Jarret's friend Jason comes in and lists off a number of different "2 words" to the camera. I am happy to report that every single one of the things he said are realities and happen quite frequently at college if this is your deal. It is always nice to change up the natural routine of drinking with some fun games and you can read about them here. College parties are a lot of fun and theres always somewhere where you can do it. When first entering college its the best, because you can literally roam from one house to the next without really knowing anybody and drink their beer. As time goes on however, there appear to be some rules that prohibit randoms from going into peoples house parties (but rules are often times meant to be broken).

Jill Butt: This is as funny as it sounds.

The most incredibly accurate portrayal of a Fraternity Guy: I'm not sure how SNL was able to do this, but they were able to quantify the complex tendencies of a guy in a Fraternity and capture it on screen. This guy has it all. From his demeanor to the girl sleeping in his room to shitting in a place where he probably shouldn't, and you can't forget about that unnecessary aggressiveness that he has. The Greek System is a fantastic institution, don't get me wrong. It is perfect for a social outlet during college and really gives you exposure to meet the maximum amount of people in college, because there are a lot of new people at college. Whether you go to a school of 1,000 people or 40,0000 people, getting to know new people without any tools to help you can be incredibly challenging. The Greek System teaches you a great deal about people, and especially about yourself.

I hope you enjoy the movie!

This post was originally written by Tyrone Schiff
University of Michigan · Organizational Studies · 06 Aug 2007