# I think Willow got accepted to my Alma Mater (BtVS-related) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 11, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-willow-got-accepted-to-my-alma-mater-btvs-related/567279 "2011-01-11T23:17:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-willow-got-accepted-to-my-alma-mater-btvs-related/567279/1 "2011-01-11T23:17:08Z")
This is well and truly mundane and pointless, so maybe it belongs over there, but since it has to do with “Buffy” I put it here. I’m watching through BtVS for the first time; this afternoon, among others, I saw “Bad Girls,” during which episode the gang is discussing Willow’s early admission to a number of schools, at which point Xander says: [QUOTE=Xander] “Harvard…Yale…Wesleyan…some German Polytechnical Institute whose name I, uh, I can’t pronounce.” [/QUOTE] and I immediately thought, “Hey, that’s [Rensselaer](http://www.rpi.edu)!” Right after that I thought, “hmm, that’s weird. Not the first name that comes to mind for the general public when discussing prestigious schools.” Makes me wonder if someone involved in the production of Buffy went there or knows someone who did. Either way, nice to see the alma mater get a little shout-out in the popular media, even if nobody not already familiar with the place would recognize it. Like I said, mundane and pretty pointless. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-willow-got-accepted-to-my-alma-mater-btvs-related/567279/2 "2011-01-12T05:21:15Z")
I’m guessing it’s pronounced “ren-seh-LA-uh” with the _r_ one of those German back-of-the-tongue\* r’\*s. Also, I thought the bit in the script was just a generic unpronounceable foreign school. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-willow-got-accepted-to-my-alma-mater-btvs-related/567279/3 "2011-01-12T13:03:59Z")
It’s pronounced “REN-suh-leer” and it’s actually a Dutch name, which makes it funnier to me. Xander hasn’t heard of the place, can’t pronounce the name, _and_ gets the nationality wrong. Seems perfectly Xander. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-willow-got-accepted-to-my-alma-mater-btvs-related/567279/4 "2011-01-12T13:45:35Z")
Of course she got into Wesleyan. That’s Joss’ school. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-willow-got-accepted-to-my-alma-mater-btvs-related/567279/5 "2011-01-12T14:38:10Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Of course she got into Wesleyan. That’s Joss’ school. And then, later, Wesleyan got into her… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-willow-got-accepted-to-my-alma-mater-btvs-related/567279/6 "2011-01-12T14:43:00Z")
::smack!:: ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-willow-got-accepted-to-my-alma-mater-btvs-related/567279/7 "2011-01-12T15:28:52Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Of course she got into Wesleyan. That’s Joss’ school. It’s also Carter Bays and Craig Thomas’ school. Coincidence? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-willow-got-accepted-to-my-alma-mater-btvs-related/567279/8 "2011-01-12T15:38:54Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > It’s also Carter Bays and Craig Thomas’ school. Coincidence? Well, as previously noted in this forum, it _does_ explain last week’s HIMYM. Must be something in the water at that school. Or else a demon is teaching Script-Writing 101.