Meg Griffin of ‘Family Guy’ is headed to this New England college

"Kind of a big week for the Megster."

February 19, 2020

2 minutes to read

For years, the standard dream college of choice among fictional TV and movie teens has been Harvard. Recently, as noted by Vulture writer Hunter Harris, there’s also been a lot of love among on-screen high schoolers for fellow Ivy League school Yale. But when the star of a longtime animated sitcom recently announced her college choice, she chose a different New England institution of higher learning.

Meg Griffin, the oft-maligned daughter of Peter and Lois Griffin on “Family Guy” and the most frequent target of the Fox show’s jokes, announced during the latest episode that she would be attending Bowdoin College, the private liberal arts school in Brunswick, Maine.

“So, anyone want to ask me about my week?” Meg says in the episode, sporting a Bowdoin hat and sweatshirt. “Kind of a big week for the Megster. Big envelope in the mail. Yep. Early admittance. Day one, Aug. 26, clean slate.”

“Closing credits!” Peter yells, breaking the fourth wall in an attempt to hasten the episode’s end. “Closing credits!”

Bowdoin made note of the shoutout on social media on Monday.

“It looks like we have a new television Polar Bear to welcome to the family: Meg Griffin from @FamilyGuyonFOX!,” the college tweeted.

It looks like we have a new television Polar Bear to welcome to the family: Meg Griffin from @FamilyGuyonFOX! #GoUBears pic.twitter.com/SPqohrPFbp

— Bowdoin College (@BowdoinCollege) February 17, 2020

“Bowdoin has found its way into a number of TV shows and movies over the years. The college has been mentioned quite a lot on ‘Jeopardy!’ and we had a long run with ‘McDreamy,’ Patrick Dempsey’s character on ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ who was a Bowdoin graduate,” Bowdoin spokesman Doug Cook told the Portland Press-Herald. “It was a surprise to hear Bowdoin mentioned on ‘Family Guy’ the other night; we’ll see where it goes.”

The Bowdoin shoutout is far from the only time New England has been in the spotlight on “Family Guy” during the show’s 18 seasons. The show takes place in fictional Quahog, Rhode Island, and show creator Seth MacFarlane is originally from Kent, Connecticut, and attended the Rhode Island School of Design. Way back in season four, Tom Brady and Troy Brown guest-starred in an episode in which Peter joins the New England Patriots, and, in 2017, Rob Gronkowski guest-starred as himself.