It's the season of college graduations, and we're full of pomp and circumstance! Some of your favorite classic television characters know a thing or two about the college years, too -- and we're not talking made-for-TV schools like Hillman College or California University.
Here are 10 TV characters who went to real colleges:
Doogie Howser -- Princeton University, Class of 1983
This boy genius not only went to Princeton, he was 10 years old when he graduated from the prestigious Ivy League University! On the 1980s series "Doogie Howser, M.D.," the character of Doogie Howser (played by Neil Patrick Harris) went on to be a doctor by the time he hit puberty. You can see proof of Doogie's grad status in the show's opening sequence.
C. Montgomery Burns -- Yale, Class of 1914
Animated TV characters stay forever young -- or forever old. On "The Simpsons" episode "Burns Baby Burns," Homer Simpson's boss, Mr. Burns, reminisced about his 1914 Yale graduating class. Burns majored in science and business, which clearly served him well; he later became the owner of Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Excellent.
Betty Draper -- Bryn Mawr College, Class of 1954
On AMC's "Mad Men," Don Draper's former wife was said to have been a sorority sister at Bryn Mawr College, a women's liberal arts college outside of Philadelphia. While the anthropology-degree-toting Betty later went on to become a model, her sorority days were called into question by an article in The Atlantic. According to the magazine: "Bryn Mawr has never had sororities. By far the brainiest of the Seven Sisters -- cussed, straight-backed, high-minded, and feminist -- Bryn Mawr was probably the least likely college that Betty Draper would have attended."
Meredith Grey -- Dartmouth College
Any longtime fan of the ABC drama "Grey's Anatomy" knows that lead character Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo ) got her undergrad degree at Dartmouth College. The character often wears her Dartmouth T-shirt, especially when she's stressed. But according to The Dartmouth, there's a method behind Mer's mad love for her alma mater. Show creator Shonda Rhimes majored in English at the school, graduating in 1991.
Miranda Hobbes -- Harvard University, Class of 1990
Miranda Hobbes of "Sex and the City" was one smart cookie -- well, most of the time. She got her law degree from Harvard, but later found that men were a tad intimidated by super smart women like herself. In the episode "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Miranda downplayed her Ivy League past and lawyer present, pretending to be a ditzy flight attendant in order to get a date. Too bad her date was pretending, as well, when he told her he was a surgeon. (It's obvious he didn't go to Harvard!)
Richie Cunningham- - University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Right around the time "Happy Days" jumped the shark, the character of Richie Cunningham headed off to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to study journalism. Pals Potsie and Ralph followed suit (Potsie as a pysch major?), and these three musketeers were frequently seen wearing their red and white UW letterman jackets. You can see a clip of the guys in their college jackets here.
Andy Bernard -- Cornell University
On the comedy "The Office," Andy Bernard likes to drop names -- as in the prestigious name of the college he attended. That would be Cornell University, where he claims, "I graduated in four years, I never studied once, I was drunk the whole time, and I sang in the acapella group, Here Comes Treble." Watch Andy dish on his college career here.
George Costanza -- Queens College
It's no surprise that that "Seinfeld" character George Costanza attended Queens College with his BFF Jerry. In real life, Jerry Seinfeld graduated from the school in 1976. But did the character of George actually graduate? In the episode "The Marine Biologist," Jerry runs into an old Queens College alum, and after she dismisses his old friend George as a "goof off," he lies and tells her George is now a marine biologist.
Will Truman and Grace Adler -- Columbia University
Speaking of BFFs, on the sitcom "Will and Grace," the show's main characters met at Columbia University in 1985, where they lived in the same dorm and dated! A flashback scene showed Will realizing that he's gay during a visit home over Thanksgiving break. Check out the classic scene here.
Dr. Frasier Crane -- Harvard and Oxford
On the sitcoms "Cheers" and "Frasier," Dr. Frasier Crane's highbrow educational background was referenced frequently. Frasier attended Harvard, where he was on the men's rowing team, and Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He was even in all-male version of "The Mikado" at Oxford. "People still ask to see my "Yum-Yum!" he once revealed.
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