By Chris Nguyen
Features Editor

Over the summer, I, along with many other seniors, began the college search. I ended up with over 20 colleges, with a goal to narrow it down to under eight by the time I returned to school.

However, that was much easier said than done. When I spent 30 minutes with the same list still staring back at me, I decided to take a break and started watching “Gilmore Girls” in which the daughter Rory goes to Yale, which just so happened to be on my list.

Then, I realized maybe instead of doing this back and forth with these unnecessary details, like academic programs and financial aid, it would be worth my while to look at what really matters: the pop culture factor. Considering I judge pretty much everything else to pop culture, why wouldn’t the same idea work with the same with colleges?

First off, Yale was crossed off. Any school that would accept jerks like “Gilmore Girls”‘ Logan Huntzberger is not a match for me.

Brown was a toughie. One negative is that the annoying, moody girl Natalie Portman played in Anywhere but Here went there to get away from her mother, and she was just obnoxious. But then, I remembered Harry Potter’s Emma Watson, who plays Hermione, is currently enrolled. Imagine: me best friends with the real Hermione as I get all the Burberry swag she earned from her ad campaign and I would probably start speaking with a British accent from being around her so often.

Narrowing down the list became a breeze once I looked at the pop cultural aspect. Berkley? Nope, somebody’s ditzy daughter from “The Real Housewives of Orange County” goes there. University of Southern California? Heck to the no, “The Hills” and “The City” star Whitney Port attended the school. Any school that could accept a girl whose most articulate comment is the tilt of the head does not seem to take academics seriously.

Even the seemingly prestigious and perfect fits were cut out, Emory only reminded me of the inspiration of the book and film Into the Wild Christopher McCandless, who left his comfortable life, money and essentially his identity, after graduating from Emory, only to die alone in Alaska because he ate a poisonous berry. The Atlanta heat would do nothing to brighten that depressing thought.

I ended up cutting my list down—to two schools: Northwestern and University of Texas at Austin. I chose both because The Royal Tenenbaums director Wes Anderson walked UT’s halls, and he was the coolest of cool while Stephen Colbert and Drew Barrymore’s character from Never Been Kissed, Jose, were alumni of Northwestern.

However, once I started my applications I ran into a problem: I didn’t really have a reason to go. My personal statement would end up going a little bit like this:

I like Northwestern because Drew Barrymore went there in Never Been Kissed, and she said she liked it and I like her. So by the transitive property, I like it.

That wouldn’t go over so well in the admissions office. For the first time in my life, my pop culture senses failed me. I could buy a Panini maker thanks to Oprah’s suggestion, but could not wisely find the college for me.

When life gets serious and college is obviously a major part of my future, some more discretion was necessary. I had to put down the Us Weekly and turn off “Gossip Girl” to look at the substantial aspects of what will be the next four years of my life.

So for now, I have my college list all ready and done, which are picked for right reasons, no matter how boring they are.

And with Brown off my list, I have to say goodbye to British accents and Burberry scarves. All in the name of education, of course.