GROWING UP watching channels on cable filled with TV series and films that “show” what high school is like, builds up your expectations of what’s to come when you go to high school. Watching these media makes you feel so excited to go to high school and experience the same magical scenes. 

With your outfit lying on your bed in the morning, ready to seize your first day of school like Sharpay Evans or Blair Waldorf—you look forward to the dancing and laughter, romances, and of course, prom! 

But then… you get to high school. And it’s nothing like the shows or movies, it’s the complete opposite! There are no pretty boys or dancing in the cafeteria, and most importantly—being stylish isn’t allowed. 

You realize that the films and shows you’ve watched, all created this image in your brain that wasn’t even real about high school, it just ruined your expectations, and now you have to get through this phase of your life blindly. 

So, here are five films and TV shows that ultimately ruined expectations of high school.

High School Musical

Starting strong with High School Musical, the ultimate sham of high school that made you believe that you’ll be breaking free through the school year. First and foremost, let’s state the obvious: high schoolers don’t break into dance while having their lunch! 

What’s more heartbreaking is that Troy Bolton doesn’t exist. He’s a fictional character that you wish manifested in one of your classes. There’s also no Miss Darbus who would make you paint stage props for detention. 

And how is it that the theater kids are considered to be the most popular people in school? Why are they top of the social hierarchy when in fact, theater kids are ridiculed most of the time and no one ever goes to plays unless the students are obligated by the school? It’s just factually incorrect.

If you watch it now, it’ll look so unrealistic—but when you first watched it as a kid, it looked too convincing. Enough that you would daydream about a prom under the trees or sing at the top of your lungs in the middle of a basketball game.

Either way, those don’t exist in high school, but it’s fun to imagine sometimes, or just gaslight yourself into thinking that your high school is just like Gabriella Montez’s.

Pretty Little Liars

One thing that can completely ruin your expectations in high school is when such media shows the girls look gorgeous in their outfits. Because what school allows you to wear such revealing and designer clothes? 

Pretty Little Liars is a series about a group of friends who had their leader disappear, after said disappearance, the group received several threats about their secrets. Their lies continue to be revealed by a mysterious person (called “A”) while the details behind their leader’s disappearance are unveiled. 

Now, while this premise seems interesting for a high-school mystery show, the way the series ran on nationwide television seemed too unrealistic. Because on top of several homework and projects, how can a teenager have it in her to go around and solve a mystery? 

More than that, the secrets they kept—while it can happen in real life—set wrong expectations of what high school looks like. It’s much simpler than possible murder and secrets that you would take to your grave. 

Euphoria

Euphoria took the world by storm. If you don’t know Euphoria and how controversial it is, you must’ve been living under a rock. There were several, SEVERAL, videos of scenes from Euphoria that went viral upon its release. 

Some of it is Cassie’s 4 AM morning routine, Maddy finding out about Cassie and Nate, or the ‘Oklahoma’ scene. It was just that iconic. But not because it’s iconic does it mean that this series was an accurate representation of the high school, because it’s not. 

Like Pretty Little Liars, the film had so many revealing and designer clothes that it would have you questioning how they do not get into the principal’s office just by not following the dress code. And the violence? Why can all that happen inside the school premises and have no one reprimanded?

There are a lot more messed up themes that are present in Euphoria that make you question if they are in high school. The issues and controversy in the series can and do exist in real life, but not all at the same time. 

Going to high school is not a big party scene that is full of scenarios that will have you dreading every day of school. Again, high school is much more simpler and innocent than that. 

Euphoria can be such a fun watch; it keeps you gasping and getting all into the feels. But it’s not something you should base your expectations on in high school.

Gossip Girl

XOXO, Gossip Girl made every watch worth the wait. Watching the life of the rich people, especially high school rich people, makes you feel as if you’re already there with them. But then again, you shouldn’t treat the series as your high school basis. Because it’s not it. 

The first seasons of Gossip Girl had them still in high school and showed how the characters transitioned into college, including how to get into college (just look at how hard Blair Waldorf worked to get into Yale!) but their presentation of high school cannot be something you expect in your school. 

First and foremost, Gossip Girl is set to follow the life of Manhattan’s Upper East Side—meaning, everyone is rich, like old money rich. So, if you’re not coming from old money, half of the issues and dramas they’ve encountered are out of your reach. 

More than that, the way they solve problems is through money and their social conversations are at rich parties. Frankly, it’s hard to relate and expect something from such shows that feels like the characters are out of your league, much more if you’re making it your standards of what high school would be like.

Mean Girls

Compared to all the films and shows that were shown in this list, Mean Girls is the closest to the real high school experience, including the different cliques, the mean girls, the queen bees, trying to fit in, and more. 

But then again, the movie exaggerated this experience by emphasizing that everyone in high school is a mean girl. However, the most unrealistic part of the film is that the school cared about all the bullying issues and fighting that was going on between the students. 

It was seen in several scenes that the professors were very involved whenever there was an altercation between the girls, while sometimes this may appear to be true, it rarely happens. You could be bullied out of your mind, and they won’t bat an eye. 

Especially in the Philippines where bullying is normalized and treated as a part of the “student experience” regardless of if it took a toll on you mentally, emotionally, and physically. 

Unlike in Mean Girls, you won’t get closure with the people who said mean things behind your back even if it’s in front of you. There would be no support from the school whatsoever when it comes to your self-image. And you also won’t get closure with the people who have hurt you like Cady and Regina did. 

Again, there is no rulebook for getting into high school, and no films could ever present everyone’s high school experience as each, and everyone’s experience of high school is distinct and unique. Therefore, these films cannot give justice to what you’re about to experience, but it is a good way to entertain yourself while you wait for what’s to come.

With reports from Ashley Kristieanne Ignacio