Study with Rory Gilmore
Study With Rory Gilmore:
What Episodes of Gilmore Girls to Watch
Beloved townspeople!
Since the first year of the podcast, we have had an annual Back To School episode because what is Gilmore girls without its desperation, drive, and drama when it comes to academics? Lorelai painfully reconnecting with her parents in order to send Rory to a prestigious prep school to improve her chances at a Harvard acceptance letter is what blasts the show forward in the pilot.
Rory’s non-romantic storylines take place within the hallowed halls of Chilton, the newsroom at Yale, or in search for the perfect study spot. Her ambition is all academically inclined. Even Lorelai gets her own business school storyline and tear-filled graduation ceremony.
Bottom line, school is important on Gilmore Girls.
And when I was younger, I used to turn on Gilmore Girls (on my DVD box sets of course) when I was studying in order to get in the zone so to speak. Cracking open my books with Rory felt like we were going on down this path together. Maybe that works for you, too! So whether you are in school or need to get some work done with your favorite girls in the background, here is our list of the twelve best episodes of Gilmore girls to watch for the ultimate study inspo—
Study With Rory Gilmore
The Episode Playlist
Season 1 Episode 2: The Lorelai’s First Day At Chilton
Of course we have to start at the first first day of school. The introduction to the intensity of Chilton, of Headmaster Charleston, of Paris. Rory really sees what she is up against for the next three years of her life and it isn’t as easy as her time at Stars Hollow High. As does Ms. Lorelai Gilmore! This ain’t no rodeo!
Season 1 Episode 4: The Deer Hunters
This episode is the epitome of the school experience. A bad grade. A parent teacher night. Studying yourself to sleep and your mom being right there with you. Getting hit by a deer! Missing the test! Your mom coming up to defend your honor and… getting herself a little phone call future a prospective love interest in the process… Maybe not that last part, but the rest of it certainly. Can’t skip this one!
Season 2 Episode 4: The Road Trip to Harvard
School might not be in session, but dreaming is! We know at this point that it is Rory’s ultimate goal to go to Harvard. To think that in the middle of Lorelai’s sprint from the almost altar that she took Rory to walk around Harvard makes us a bit emo. Perhaps seeing the hope in her daughter’s eyes might restore some of her own. Perhaps seeing the hope in Rory might restore some of your own for your own future!
Season 2 Episode 5: Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy
The first day of school in season two— for the fall semester! And we’re starting off with a bang. Rory gets some bad assignments for the paper because of Paris’s one-sided feud with her. Plus rather cute leather, jacket wearing, literature junkie arrives in town and finds just how “hooked on phonics” Rory is. And perhaps a book thief is a bit hooked on her, too. Crushes are a part of the school experience, okay?!
Season 2 Episode 7: Like Mother, Like Daughter
Rory isn’t so much of a loner at school as she is someone who keeps to herself amidst the drama of her peers. But the school takes note and wants her to make friends. And she does— with the first secret society she will encounter. On Lorelai’s end, she is admonished as an uninvolved parent and has to join a society of her own— the boosters. We included this one because we love parallel storylines between the Lorelais’ and love that these centered around Chilton.
Season 2 Episode 9: Run Away, Little Boy
We had to include this one because of how ubiquitous school is in this episode. Rory, Paris and their group for their Shakespeare class are at school obviously, but they take their drama on the road and end up in Stars Hollow to rehearse. It even infiltrates Rory’s love life because Dean doesn’t like her working with Tristan on this project. Drama fit for Shakespeare!
Season 3 Episode 2: Haunted Leg
Rory has returned for her final first day at Chilton after a summer in Washington, DC. She’s officially the vice president of the student government to Paris’s president of course. Things are settling nicely between Paris and Rory, which means it is time for someone to start a new feud: enter Francie and her arm yanking into the bathroom ways.
Season 3 Episode 21: Here Comes The Son
For this one, you might have to select all + delete the Jess in California bits to feel the true academic nature shine through! Every other scene is Rory prepping for the end of her high school days and we get the absolutely iconic line “Who cares if I’m pretty if I fail my finals?” And how does this episode end? “Why is everyone calling you valedictorian?” Monumental on Rory’s academic journey in the series.
Season 4 Episode 2: The Lorelai’s First Day at Yale
Now listen, there might not be a ton of learning going on in this episode as far as books, but we’ve spent this entire series thus far watching Rory strive for one goal: college! And getting to see her finally move in and get to start new goals? An absolute must!!! on this playlist. Learning how to be a college student is a whole path unto itself.
Season 4 Episode 6: An Affair To Remember
Rory’s desperately running around her usual go-to spots to catch up on surprise schoolwork only to stumble upon the perfect study tree?! We’re hooked. No one is standing (or sitting) in between this girl and her tree. Not even a guy with a floppy haircut. Hello, it fits HER back perfectly!!! This episode also oozes fall aesthetic - a perfect bonus.
Season 5 Episode 6: Normal Mailer, I’m Pregnant!
Rory really hits her stride as a college journalist in this one! A bit sad that this is our only episode with this sort of dive into her journalistic instincts. At first, they pretty much sucks until she runs into a lady in a gorilla mask. A bit of late night research, approaching a potential in, and a new nickname is born. Not to mention Norman Mailer (like actual Norman Mailer) makes a cameo in this one. We love this episode!
Season 5 Episode 10: But Not As Cute As Pushkin
A Headmaster Charleston sighting in season 5?! Well, let’s add it to the playlist. He calls Rory up personally to request that she show Chilton student, Anna Fairchild, what Yale is like. As it turns out Anna is in for a bit of a boring time until one Mr. Logan Huntzberger steps in for a touch of mischief. The ending is perhaps the best part!
There are a dozen other episodes we could have included in this list. I mean, our original goal was a list of ten and we even went beyond that… which you totally understand if you’re a bestie of the pod! As some honorable mentions for your Rory Gilmore Study Inspo, here is a list of episodes we referred to on the podcast as “college ambition honorable mentions”
Rory Gilmore’s College Ambition episodes—
Season 3 Episode 8: Let The Games Begin
Season 3 Episode 16: The Big One
Season 3 Episode 17: A Tale of Poes and Fire
Season 3 Episode 22: Those Are Strings, Pinocchio
Season 4 Episode 9: Ted Koppel’s Big Night Out
If you want to hear us talk through all of these episodes and more, you can listen to the podcast here.
Or if you want to watch the podcast—
There is more to say and more hear from Gilmore To Say on back to school and the academic themes on the show. Here are three episodes of the podcast you might enjoy: