They aren't always students but they play them on TV

Recently, TV networks of all sizes have been giving it the old college try.

The WB tried to launch a major hit with their fabulous, and now sadly defunct, four-year series Felicity. HBO sent Meadow Soprano away to college. Fox decided it was Undeclared, and CBS tried to educate Max Bickford. And then Dawson1s Creek doll Katie Holmes dropped onto Duke1s doorstep, filming segments of the teenybopper drama all along the Gothic watchtowers and libraries. Not to be left out, MTV decided that instead of sending Daria to college, it would send the new crew of Road Rules on a cross-country collegiate challenge instead.

Yep, the networks sure are trying to capture college. The question is, are they getting it right? The answer of course is yes and no. To begin with, there are the obvious aesthetic differences<for instance, there are way more anorexic blondes on Duke1s campus then there will ever be on television. And sadly, Felicity had more Marc Jacobs in her closet than most college girls could ever imagine (although I did catch her sporting a cowgirl shirt from Old Navy once). Still, the television networks have managed to capture little shards of the drama, the style and the friendship that really do make up our college experience.

In honor of our recent addiction to MTV1s Sorority Life, the Recess crew has decided to make up a little study guide.