Dr Phil

PARIS: What about the [votes] for Dr. Phil?

Phillip McGraw (born 1950), better known as Dr. Phil, television personality and author, best known for hosting the talk show, Dr. Phil. He holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, though he ceased renewing his license to practice psychology in 2006.

McGraw rose to fame with appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, in the late 1990s. Oprah Winfrey then helped McGraw launch his own program in 2002.

Dr Phil has been a commencement speaker at the University of North Texas.

Commencement Speaker

PARIS: Have you looked over the votes for commencement speaker? …

In the US, a graduation ceremony is often called commencement, presumably because the participants are about to commence a new life, post education. Even leaving high school is referred to as graduation in the US, not just tertiary graduation, as elsewhere.

The commencement speech or the graduation address is often given by a notable member of the community, giving them an uplifting message about education, wisdom, and hope for the future.

Ecole Hôtelière de Genève

LORELAI: Why are you being such a snob about this? You went to hotel school.
MICHEL: I attended the Ecole Hôtelière de Genève.

The Ecole Hôtelière de Genève is a Swiss tertiary-level school in a 18^th century mansion in Geneva, dedicated to hotel and restaurant management. It was originally the Ecole Cafetiers-Restaurants, founded in Neuchâtel, Switzerland in 1914. It moved to the Geneva property in 1951, and its current name dates to 1996. It is ranked in the top ten of the best hotel schools in the world.

Michel said that he left France at the age of 18, and presumably it was to study here in Switzerland. The diploma course lasts for three years, so Michel would have graduated when he was around 21.

The Learning Center

MICHEL: Oh, yes, that’s right. Tomorrow the two of you go back to school.
LORELAI: It’s not school, it’s a one-day course at The Learning Center.

In real life, The Learning Center in Hartford is a preschool program for small children. There are a few adult education centres in Hartford, but they tend to focus on government programs such as GED testing, citizenship tests, and learning English as a second language.

Jackson learned beekeeping, how to buy foreclosed real estate, and diary writing, and all these educational opportunities are available in Connecticut (although not at the same place), so this doesn’t seem unrealistic.

The Wadsworth Mansion

FRANCIE: The Wadsworth Mansion has just had a cancellation, which means that we can get it for prom, if we move quickly.

The Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill Estate is a real historic venue in Middletown, Connecticut, about 16 miles north of Hartford. Built in 1911 for businessman Colonel Clarence Wadsworth, it is now owned by the city of Middletown, and is open to the public. After extensive renovations, it became possible to hire it out in 1999, and today it costs around $5000 for an evening, but catering costs extra (about $100 a head). Rory is concerned about it being too expensive, but it is used as a senior prom venue. Perhaps by schools that didn’t blow their budget on an expensive telescope.

“Paris doesn’t have a brother”

FRANCIE: I saw her walking off with . . . who was that, her brother?

LOUISE: Paris doesn’t have a brother.

FRANCIE: Really? Well, she certainly seemed to know him.

Jamie is hanging around Chilton, being a distraction to Paris again and giving Francie an opportunity to take her down a peg. Princeton doesn’t go back after the Christmas break until mid-January, suggesting this episode takes place in the first half of the month.

However, it’s something of a mystery what he is doing in Hartford, which is a fair distance from Philadelphia. Is he staying with Paris, since she spent Christmas with his family? And why is Chilton letting him turn up during the school day? Don’t they have any security? Why are they letting Paris leave with him? What ever happened to Chilton being a really strict school?

Southern Connecticut State

DEAN: Yeah. You know, um, I wanted to tell you I applied to Southern Connecticut State …

RORY: Wait a minute, you do know that Southern Connecticut State is a four-year college?

DEAN: Yeah, I read that in the brochure.

RORY: But what happened to ‘I’m going to community college’?

Southern Connecticut State University, previously mentioned. It is located in New Haven, the same city as Yale. It feels as if the show was setting up a future plot line where Rory and Dean were both at university in the same city, but nothing ever came of it. Perhaps Dean changed his mind, or perhaps Jared Padalecki’s commitments to filming Supernatural meant that this idea fell by the wayside.

Prom Bids

RORY: I don’t think I’ll have the prom bids ready for the supplemental student council meeting this week … They need a little more time to get the details together, so that leaves a little hole in our agenda.

Prom bids are, as far as I can work out, just another name for tickets to the school prom, a formal dance held at the end of the academic year.

Paris is Distracted

PARIS: What did he talk about? … I didn’t take notes. I didn’t pay attention. I’m going to. . .

RORY: Borrow my notes and be just fine. [hands her notes to Paris] …

PARIS: I can’t believe I zoned out for the entire class.

This is continuing the theme of Paris not being able to pay attention to her schoolwork because she has a boyfriend. Unlike Rory, who is on her second boyfriend, and still going strong academically. She is even carrying Paris by giving her notes for the class.

Class

TEACHER: To evaluate the value of a function of X when X equals Pi. You want to start by splitting the intregal into two separate intregals. Now, since the left intregal is a variable of a constant exponent, remember C is a constant, add one and divide by the new power … The right intregal, however, is more complex. You have to use U substitution with U equals 3 feet.

During the credits, Rory and Paris are shown in their AP Calculus class, which covers both Algebra and Geometry.

At the end of last season, Paris insisted on taking AP Calculus with Mr Branch, who is a MIT graduate, so I presume that the teacher in this episode is Branch.