Princeton's Famous (Fictional) Alumni
We've all heard about Woodrow Wilson, Michelle Obama, and Brooke Shields at Princeton. But what about all of the fictional characters who have matriculated at this great, ivy-bathed institution?
It seems the University can't get enough of our fake alumni:
DID YOU KNOW: Princeton has a Program in Linguistics, but contrary to what you may have seen on TV, "30 Rock" character Jack Donaghy was never employed there to read every English word to canonize the language in his perfect American accent.- Princeton University's Official Facebook, 2011
While Alec Baldwin's big-time network executive character doesn't seem like an unlikely character you might meet at Reunions, The Ink has decided to weigh in on how some of Princeton's other faux-alums stack up:
THE UPC GUIDE TO FAKE PRINCETON ALUMNI
Bruce Wayne, revealed in Batman BeginsPlausibility: High. Just think about the donations the Wayne family could give to the endowment.Major: Economics with a Certificate in Laying Chicks, I suspect.Sam Seaborn, from The West WingPlausibility: A high-powered speech writer and political guru – sounds about right.Major: Woody WooTrivia Point: His Secret Service codename is “Princeton."Doogie Howser, M.D., from Doogie Howser, M.D.
Plausibility: Questionable, but not unlikely. He's a child prodigy who supposedly graduated from Princeton at age 10. In 1983. (But he's white and not a woman, so he might have fit in with the lil' old boys' club.)Major: Whatever gets kids into med school these days.Fantasy Senior Thesis: "Riding Unicorns: How I Met Your Mother and Fooled Her into Thinking I Was Into Her"
Dr. Manhattan, from WatchmenPlausibility: VERY High. (Blue is diversity points.)Major: Atomic Physics, World DestructionProbable Senior Thesis: "Tachyons: Not a Plot Point"Princess Mia Thermopolis (aka Anne Hathaway), from Princess Diaries 2Plausibility: Unlikely. Just because Princeton has castles does not make it the appropriate place for every Disney princess.Major: The movie says Woody Woo. But maybe she only picked it because it was still in its heyday of selectivity?
Sam Montgomery (aka Hilary Duff), from A Cinderella StoryPlausibility: See above on princesses. Queens, however, we accept.Major: Comp LitTrivia Point: "RaspberrySmoothie" gets hilariously upset in this College Confidential chatroom about how unfair it is that Princeton admits Duff's character:
I can't believe she got into Princeton! Nowhere once in that movie did I see her studying, working, or doing anything but moaning about how much her stepmother sucked. And she wasn't even geographically diverse, a legacy, award-winning, or a minority. What a slacker.
Amory Blaine, from Fitzgerald’s This Side of ParadisePlausibility: High. The character is based off of Fitzgerald, a Princeton graduate drop-out himself.Major: Literature or Philosophy. He would deem anything else too vocational.
Fred Flintstone, from the FlintstonesPlausibility: Based on this episode, the University was appropriately named “Princestone” in Fred's time. Just ask John Nash, he’ll remember.Major: Wheel and Fire Engineering (WAFE)Some other non-canonical alumni include: Charlie Epps from “Numb3rs,” President Charles Logan from “24,” Paul Kinsey from “Mad Men,” and Angelina Jolie's Russian spy character in that one movie no one watched called “Salt.”Can you imagine how crazy Reunions would be with all these characters?a collaboration by Oren Fliegelman '16, Vivienne Chen '14