This Gilmore Girls Easter Egg In Gossip Girl Pits Rory Against Blair

Rory Gilmore is arguably Yale University’s most famous alumna — at least for pop culture girlies. So much so that Gilmore Girls fans are *still* confused by her dropping out of the prestigious school in Season 5.

There’s another fictional protagonist, however, who had high hopes of attending the New Haven institution: Gossip Girl’s Blair Waldorf. Upper East Side’s queen bee famously wanted to attend her father’s alma mater, turning on anyone who could potentially jeopardize her slot — peers, teachers, and even her best friend.

Just when you thought there’s nothing normies could possibly have in common with Blair, in a Season 2 Easter egg, she revealed the utterly relatable fact that she, too, was fascinated by the Stars Hollow cadre.

As a Yale hopeful, Blair was familiar with Rory’s educational journey and had thoughts on who was the better fit for the Ivy League school.

The Gossip Girl Easter Egg You Missed

In Episode 16 of Gossip Girl’s second season “You’ve Got Yale!”, the seniors of Constance Billard and St. Jude’s face one of the biggest days of their high school lives: Yale’s acceptance results release.

As Blair prepares to head to school, her dad Harold, his partner Roman, and Dorota prepare her breakfast spread with a tablescape in Yale colors. “This is what I needed to perk me up, I couldn’t sleep a wink,” Blair says.

To which Roman replies, “We know. We heard you watching Gilmore Girls all night. Again.” That’s when Blair reveals exactly what she thinks of the show’s protagonist: “I am so a better fit for Yale than that Rory.”

Blair Isn’t Yale Material, After All

Her biting remark about Rory would soon prove to be false, however. While Blair ultimately gets into Yale after her waitlist status is lifted, her scheming and mean girl ways finally catch up to her.

Yale learns about Blair hazing her (problematic) teacher, Ms. Carr, as revenge for grading her paper a B instead of an A. Since the university has a zero-tolerance policy for that kind of behavior, the school unceremoniously rescinds her acceptance, leaving Blair with no school prospects and in a downward spiral (hello, Carter Baizen era).

Proving the power of Manhattan’s elite, Blair eventually gets into NYU with the help of her stepfather and ultimately moves to Columbia University a year later, where her ex-beau Nate Archibald and BFF Serena van der Woodsen also end up.

Rory Almost Didn’t Graduate From Yale

While Blair didn’t actually make it to Yale, Rory got accepted to every college she applied to as Chilton’s valedictorian. And though it was her childhood dream to attend Harvard, she ended up choosing Yale, her grandfather’s alma mater.

Rory, however, faced her own challenges while in the storied institution. She couldn’t handle the workload early on and was forced to drop some classes. She also had difficulties finding her voice as a journalist in the Yale Daily News.

Her biggest Yale plot twist, however, was when she dropped out in the Season 5 finale. After her ill-fated internship at the Stamford Eagle Gazette shadowing big boss Mitchum Huntzberger (and her then-boyfriend’s dad), he told her she didn’t have what it takes to be a journalist but that she did have the makings of a good assistant.

The incident led to her stealing a boat, getting arrested, fighting with her mom, moving out of Stars Hollow, and dropping out of Yale.

After what seemed like an eternity (10 episodes), Rory made things right on all fronts and eventually graduated in Season 7. As Emily and Richard put it in song, Rory was a bulldog through and through.