Quote from Oladosun Joshua Segun on September 6, 2023, 12:08 AM

If you're a fan of Gilmore Girls, you probably remember the episode where Rory decides to go to Yale instead of Harvard, her dream school since she was a little girl. But do you know the real reason behind this shocking twist? Well, we have the scoop for you!

According to the show's creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, the decision to send Rory to Yale was not based on any creative or character-driven reasons, but rather on a practical one. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she revealed that the original plan was to have Rory attend Harvard, but the logistics of filming in Boston proved to be too difficult and expensive.

"We wanted Rory at Harvard, but then we had to deal with the reality of what does that mean?" she said. "It means she's going to be on a bus or a plane every other week. It means we're going to have to build all these sets that are supposed to look like Harvard. It means we're going to have to shoot in Boston, which is not cheap. It was just a nightmare."

Sherman-Palladino said that they considered other options, such as having Rory take a gap year or go to a nearby college, but none of them felt right for the story. Then, they came up with the idea of Yale, which was close enough to Stars Hollow for Rory to visit her mom and friends regularly, but also prestigious enough to fit her ambitions and aspirations.

"We thought, 'What if we do Yale?' Yale is an hour away from Stars Hollow. It's a great school. It has a great journalism program. It has a great history. It has a great rivalry with Harvard. It just seemed like the perfect solution," she said.

Of course, this meant that they had to rewrite some of the previous episodes and scenes that established Rory's obsession with Harvard, such as her visit to the campus with her grandfather or her acceptance letter. But Sherman-Palladino said that they managed to make it work by adding some humor and irony to the situation.

"We had fun with it. We had Lorelai make fun of it. We had Rory make fun of it. We had Emily freak out about it. We had Richard be smug about it. We just played with it," she said.

So there you have it, Gilmore Girls fans. The truth about why Rory didn't go to Harvard is not some deep or dramatic secret, but simply a matter of convenience and budget. But hey, maybe it was for the best. After all, Yale gave us some memorable moments and characters, such as Logan Huntzberger, Paris Geller, and the Life and Death Brigade. And who knows, maybe Rory will end up at Harvard someday after all. Anything is possible in the Gilmore Girls universe!