Student Viewing: the best shows and movies to get you in the mood for the academic year

For romanticising solitude:

Dead Poets Society
Mona Lisa Smile
Maurice

Every semester begins with at least one week where you become convinced you’re going to reinvent yourself as an intellectual. You’ll sit in the library for hours, drink coffee while staring thoughtfully out a rain-covered window, and suddenly become interested in 16th-century historical debates.

Nothing captures the romanticism of education quite like Dead Poets Society and Mona Lisa Smile. Both set in New England in the 1950s, they’re filled with old libraries mysterious Shakespeare quotes. Maurice, meanwhile, transports you back to Edwardian Cambridge, where the talk of poetry, history and love might just convince you to enjoy medieval literature.

Dad poets Society © 2026 - Walt Disney Studios

• For the fumbling freshman:

Fresh Meat
Sex Life Of College Girls
Community
Monsters University

No matter how confident everyone looks during Freshers’ Week, nobody knows what they’re doing. Between getting lost on campus, and awkward introductions where you have to explain your major and where you’re from for the thousandth time, freshers can make you feel like you were born yesterday.

The picture of what university is supposed to be is often much different than the reality – and a lot of TV and movies have fun with this idea. Whether it’s the chaotic house-share energy of Fresh Meat or the surprisingly unsexy Sex Life Of College Girls; the complete madness of Community or the surprisingly relatable student society culture of Monsters University – these are perfect reminders that college is supposed to be messy.

Photo by Pixar - © 2012 Disney/Pixar

• For campus crushes:

Normal People
Off Campus
Gilmore Girls

College and romance have always gone hand in hand. There’s something about bumping into a campus crush or developing banter with your lab partner that has students skipping lectures for daydreaming sessions.

Normal People remains unavoidable when talking about college romance. Few shows have captured the awkwardness, intimacy, and emotional confusion of young adulthood quite so well. Meanwhile, Off Campus delivers a more uplifting and escapist story, with charming hockey players and intriguing ‘study sessions’.

Gilmore Girls offers the best of both worlds, with the bingeable romances set against the backdrop of ivy-covered uni walls.

• To help the graduating goosebumps:

The Graduate
Good Will Hunting

At some point during every degree comes the inevitable panic of what happens after graduation. The daunting question you’ve been avoiding for four years has now found its way back to you.

The Graduate may not give you any answers, but it sure is an entertaining watch. Between tales of Mrs Robinson and everyone questioning you on what comes next, this movie captures the simultaneous excitement and foreboding of leaving college.

Good Will Hunting also wrestles with uncertainty, ambition, and the uncomfortable reality of growing up. These stories are a reminder that not knowing exactly where you’re going isn’t a failure; in fact, it’s practically a university tradition.

• For stories of success:

How To Get Away With Murder
The Social Network
Legally Blonde
Elle

Legally Blonde

For the future CEOs, law students and LinkedIn warriors who have it all figured out, but just need the motivation to keep going, these are the ultimate ambition-core watches. Our initial recommendation is the story of the first guy to post ‘entrepreneur’ on his Facebook bio, Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, David Fincher’s Oscar-winning drama with a classic score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
Next up, we suggest checking out iconic character Elle Woods strutting her stuff – and deploying her ‘legal jargon’ – in both Legally Blonde and its recent spin-off show Elle. Finally, dive into the gripping series How To Get Away With Murder, in which brilliant criminal defence attorney Annalise Keating and her students navigate twisted murder plots.