Bowdoin may be welcoming a new (slightly famous) Polar Bear to the family.
Meg Griffin, the often ignored and ridiculed daughter on the Fox cartoon “Family Guy,” announced in the newest episode that she’s been accepted to Bowdoin College. The reference came as a surprise to the Brunswick liberal arts school.
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,” said Bowdoin spokesman Doug Cook. “It was a surprise to hear Bowdoin mentioned on ‘Family Guy’ the other night; we’ll see where it goes.”
Bowdoin references have also popped up on “Mad Men” and “The Sopranos.”
In the closing scene of Sunday night’s episode, “Short Cuts,” the Griffin family is sitting in their living room. Meg, decked out in a gray Bowdoin hat and sweatshirt, breaks the silence to share her exciting news.
“So anyone want to ask me about my week? Kind of a big week for the Megster,” she says to her parents, brothers and dog. “Big envelope in the mail. Yep, early admittance. Day 1, Aug. 26, clean slate.”
The rest of the Griffins were, apparently, unimpressed. No one reacts to Meg’s big news, and her father Peter calls twice for “closing credits.”
Meg says she was accepted early to Bowdoin, but the Brunswick college wasn’t always her first choice. In a 2014 episode called “Meg Stinks!” she travels to Vermont for an interview at Green Mountain College, her first-choice school. She misses that interview when she and Peter, who is usually dismissive of his daughter, bond over the song “Night Moves” by Bob Seger and spend the weekend partying together.
Green Mountain College closed at the end of the 2019 academic year, so naturally Meg had to set her sights on a different liberal arts college.
At Bowdoin, the early decision application program is a binding option, meaning students accepted are required to enroll in the college and withdraw applications from other schools. The college has enrolled 41 to 43 percent of its entering class through early decision in recent years.
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