What To Watch
Ready for a College Tour? These 14 Movies and Shows Capture Campus Life
Enroll in the onscreen university of your choice.
By Ashley Lee
Sept. 24, 2026
14 Best College Movies and Series to Watch on Netflix - Netflix Tudum
In real life, college tours can be stressful endeavors. In your final years of high school, you’re spending your free time traveling from campus to campus, visiting classrooms and dormitories — all to decide where you’ll enroll after graduation and spend the next chapter of your life. It’s all quite overwhelming, and the schools’ buildings begin to look the same and their brochures start to blur together.
Consider this selection of films and series the most entertaining college tour you’ll ever complete. At these schools — ranging from Ivy League universities on the East Coast, historic HBCUs in the South, sports-centric community colleges in Texas, to elite institutions in the United Kingdom — you’ll meet incoming freshmen who are hungry for experience, international students discovering a new country, ambitious athletes who leave it all on the field, and accomplished professors with their own agendas.
No need to fill out a lengthy application or take any kind of entrance exam; you receive that coveted acceptance letter simply by hitting play.
A Different World
Welcome back to Hillman College. This sequel series to the iconic ’80s and ’90s sitcom centers on a new generation of students. Maleah Joi Moon plays Deborah, the free-spirited, well-intentioned, and rebellious daughter of Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison) and Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy) who enrolls at her parents’ alma mater. On campus, she finds the shadows of her mom and dad difficult to escape and sets out to build her own legacy — while having the time of her life alongside a whole new cohort of Hillman’s best and brightest.
Barry
This fictionalized drama zooms in on a young Barack Obama (Devon Terrell) as he arrives in New York City in 1981 to begin his junior year at Columbia University — the beginning of a formative period for the titular president-to-be. During this time, he forges his identity and new perspectives through a series of impactful experiences on and off campus. Terrell portrays the future head of state alongside Anya Taylor-Joy, Jason Mitchell, Ashley Judd, and Jenna Elfman.
Best of the Best
Meet Maya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and Anjali (Priyanka Kedia), two childhood best friends who join UCLA’s Bollywood-fusion dance team. They soon discover that the road to winning the US championship is far more raucous and cutthroat than they ever imagined. Come for the stellar ensemble dance sequences — showstopper moments for which Kedia and Ramakrishnan underwent four months of dance boot camp. Stay for the heartfelt themes of sisterhood and self-acceptance, plus all the quick-witted comedy. The movie was written by Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj collaborators Minhaj and Prashanth Venkataramanujam.
The Chair
Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy, Killing Eve) stars in this six-episode dramedy as Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim, the first woman of color to become chair of the English department at a fictional New England university. In her new position, she tries to meet the dizzying demands and high expectations of her failing English department. Jay Duplass, Holland Taylor, and Bob Balaban are among the cast of the series, created by Amanda Peet.
Cheer
Meet the Navarro College Dogs, the competitive cheerleading squad under the strict direction of head coach Monica Aldama. This three-time Emmy Award-winning docuseries not only follows the Texas students as they train for the national championship in Florida, but also peers into the school’s fierce rivalry with a nearby college and sheds light on the big business of the cheerleading industry. And of course, these high-flying athletes perform stunts that have to be seen to be believed.
Deaf U
What is it like to attend the only university in the world where students learn in both American Sign Language and English? This coming-of-age reality series centers on a tight-knit group of Deaf students at Gallaudet University, a renowned private college for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing that’s located in Washington, D.C. As the show’s seven friends navigate the high, lows, and hookups of college life, they each share their stories and offer an unprecedented, unfiltered, and often unexpected look inside the Deaf community.
Dear White People
Based on the 2014 film of the same name, this absurdist comedy series follows a group of Black students at a predominantly white Ivy League college as they navigate cultural bias, social injustice, and an ever-shifting political landscape. When radio show host Samantha White (Logan Browning) catches a group of students hosting a party with a racist theme, she works to hold them accountable. However, her fellow members of the Black student caucus doubt her credibility after they learn about her potentially controversial new relationship.
Habeas Corpus
In this Brazilian legal drama, Marjorie Estiano plays Inez, a formidable criminal lawyer turned university professor who leads a team of students to revisit the case of a young man who may have been wrongfully convicted. The eight episodes chart the renowned professor’s attempts to prove the man’s innocence, only to discover that her brightest pupil, Marina (Any Gabrielly), has a connection to the case — and to Inez herself — that runs much deeper than expected.
Last Chance U
This compelling documentary series explores the inner workings of the junior college football scene. Over five seasons, the show stops at East Mississippi Community College, Kansas’s Independence Community College, and California’s Laney College. At each location, viewers meet charismatic (and occasionally problematic) head coaches, passionate academic advisors, and promising athletes with the hopes of making it to the pros. The show’s spin-off, Last Chance U: Basketball, is also available to stream.
My Oxford Year
Your homework while watching this movie will include lots of laughter and maybe even a few tears. Sofia Carson is Anna, an ambitious young American woman who begins her studies at the University of Oxford to fulfill a childhood dream. She’s got her life completely on track — that is, until she meets Jamie, a charming and clever local played by Corey Mylchreest. Their newfound connection profoundly alters both of their lives. The romantic drama is based on Julia Whelan’s novel of the same name.
Roommates
The fastest way to lose your mind in college? Get a roommate. In this unhinged comedy, Sadie Sandler plays the shy Devon opposite Chloe East as the fiery Celeste. After meeting during their orientation program, the two agree to live together and wade through freshman-year chaos — frat parties, first hangovers, packed school schedules, and new friends — arm in arm. But soon, their blossoming friendship spirals into a war of passive aggression and hilarious chaos. Sarah Sherman, Nick Kroll, and Natasha Lyonne are also in the cast.
The Sex Lives of College Girls
Welcome to Essex College, an elite East Coast university where randomly selected roommates Kimberly Finkle (Pauline Chalamet), Bela Malhotra (Amrit Kaur), Whitney Chase (Alyah Chanelle Scott), and Leighton Murray (Reneé Rapp) are ready to take on their first year with as little drama — and as much romance — as possible. Created by Mindy Kaling (Running Point, Never Have I Ever) and Justin Noble (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), the raunchy three-season dramedy follows the foursome as they revel in the newfound freedom and self-discovery of campus life.
So Not Worth It
This quirky Korean sitcom introduces eight students who all live in an international dormitory in Seoul. Most of the students are originally from different parts of the world — Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Sweden, America, and more — and experiencing life in Korea for the first time. Follow along as these charming characters navigate all that their university and city has to offer — trying new foods, taking on part-time jobs, grappling with long-distance relationships, and finding new romance.
Vladimir
Rachel Weisz stars in the limited series as a passionate but reckless literary academic who’s stuck in a personal and professional slump. Frustrated by her complicated relationship with her husband (John Slattery), she finds herself dangerously fixated on her handsome new colleague (Leo Woodall). As boundaries blur and secrets simmer, she’ll risk everything to bring her most scandalous fantasies to life. Julia May Jonas adapted the series from her novel of the same name.
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