28 Most Cliche College Posters

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1. “College”

The grand daddy of all college posters is this classic John Belushi shot from the 80′s cult classic “Animal House.” Never before has one poster said so much, encapsulating the rebellious, party hard college lifestyle in one poster that every student can instantly identify with. If you plan on visiting a college campus anytime soon, you should expect to see this poster more often than any of the others, and if you’re moving into a dorm of your own, your roommate might already have one!

2. Periodic Table of Mixology

College is where binge drinking reigns supreme, and no poster celebrates it quite like this one. As a clever spoof on the periodic table of elements, the periodic table of mixology is filled with various types of alcohol categorized by type and strength. If you are visiting or attending a known party school, you’ll be getting very familiar with this poster, very quickly!

3. Get Your Balls Wet

Many of today’s cliche dorm room posters have to do with beer pong, and this is probably the best example. Adorned with the oh-so-clever slogan “get your balls wet”, the poster is a reference to practice of throwing ping-pong balls into cups of beer so that your opponent will have to drink it. Add that to the big-chested girl in the center and you’ve got all the makings of a cliche college poster for the ages!

4. Beer Pong Rules

Not to be outdone by the preceding poster is the ever-popular (and controversial) “beer pong rules” poster. While many, many dorm rooms have a copy of this poster in it, the fact remains that no two parties ever use the same beer pong rules, so the poster usually winds up being a moot point. Nevertheless, you will probably see plenty of them at any non-dry campus you find yourself visiting or attending.

5. Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston

So far we’ve covered the drinking aspect of college posters, but not the fighting part! That’s where this classic comes in, featuring Muhammad Ali’s now-legendary pose following his knockout of Sonny Liston. Expect to see this poster in the dorm of anyone on a wrestling or football team, as well as those of sports fanatics in general.

6. Pulp Fiction

Muhammad Ali might have been a pretty scary guy in his day, but it’s tough to top the sheer “bad ass” vibes exuded by this Pulp Fiction poster. Emblazoned with a black and white image of Jules and Vincent ready to open fire, this poster will be found in the dorms of movie buffs, class clowns, and anyone who isn’t quite ready to kiss 1994 goodbye just yet.

7. Justification for Higher Education

For some people, college is a time of soul-searching, a time to explore what the world has to offer and perhaps discover your place within it. For others, it’s a path to a life of luxury, big spending and high rolling. This poster was made for the latter group, featuring a massive five car garage beneath a lavish estate that overlooks a beach. If you’re in college to kick ass and think big, this is the poster you’ll want to hang above your desk.

8. Hidden Depths

This poster sums up how every college student feels during finals – like no matter how hard you’ve studied so far, you’ve still only seen the tip of the iceberg. If you’re looking for posters for the chronically pessimistic (or chronically overworked), “Hidden Depths” is just what you need to bring a bittersweet smile to their faces. No other poster captures the beauty in struggle quite like this one does!

9. Blown Away

The musically inclined will appreciate this poster, which features a man slumped back in a chair in front of a huge guitar amp. Anyone who has ever tried holding a band practice at college (or had their study session interrupted by one) will find at least some humor in it, and you’ll find it in dorm rooms from coast to coast.

10. Teamwork

As this poster reminds us, there truly is no “I” in drunk. The snapshot featured here is something any party-going student can relate to, as it is common for friendships to literally form from nothing more than a stranger helping you stand or walk while you are too drunk to do it yourself. As long as there are parties with alcohol on college campuses, this poster is sure to keep cropping up in the dorms!

11. Atom Bomb

The United States’ use of the atom bomb during World War 2 is still quite controversial, and the infamous “mushroom cloud” poster hangs in dorm rooms around the nation to this day. If you find yourself on a particularly left-wing campus (aren’t they all?) you can be sure of seeing a few of these bad boys plastered across the walls. Be careful though! If you care enough to remark on it, be prepared for “that guy” to drag you into a long, tiresome debate you probably never felt like having.

12. Challenge

When life gets tough, the booze starts flowing. This timeless fact of student life is immortalized on the “challenges” poster, featuring a a shot glass of tequila and the words “when life presents a challenge, take your shot.” While this isn’t very sound advice taken literally, it makes for a great conversation starter and can be seen in dorms at virtually any college you visit or attend.

13. Wedding Crashers

Let’s face it: colleges are more or less the motherland of one-night stands. The now-famous Wedding Crashers poster celebrates this fact and encourages promiscuous males with handy “rules” such as “never go back to your place” and “you’re from out of town. ALWAYS.” While it’s usually displayed for humor only, females might want to think twice about spending the night with any guys who have this hung up on their walls!

14. Clean Bathrooms

For all the great, fun aspects of college life, the bathrooms usually aren’t much to write home about. Fortunately, at least one poster has had enough and decided to take sloppy dorm dwellers to task! This classic poster admonishes all bathroom goers to keep the place clean, reminding guys to stand closer because “it’s shorter than you think.” No matter what school you go to, this is a lesson that students living on campus cannot be taught enough.

15. Wave Rider

When the crushing blow of finals sinks in, it often helps to imagine yourself in a better place. To that end, the “Wave Rider” poster can be seen on dorm room walls, above desks and laptops and anywhere else that work gets done. There’s something about seeing one man navigate a 30 foot swell that just inspires you to buckle down and get your studying done!

16. Bob Marley Mosaic

Another college poster icon is forever-toking reggae star Bob Marley. Shown as a colorful mosaic composed of puzzle pieces, this poster is a reminding that there’s always a certain soothing (though illegal) substance to help get you through those trying times!

17. Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas

Inspired by the popular book of the same name, the Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas poster fulfills the same needs as Wave Rider and Justification for Higher Education: reminding beleaguered, overburdened college students that a grander adventure awaits them once their studying and test-taking mercifully comes to an end.

18. Denim Girl

The appeal of this poster needs no explanation, but suffice it to say that a gorgeous women’s exposed backside will always have a place in a guy’s dorm room. Beware though, for putting this poster within view of your workspace is more likely to distract you from the task at hand than it is to keep you on the ball! Your best bet is to save this one for party areas only.

19. Peace

Aside from beer and women, peace enjoys more support and idolizing on college campuses than pretty much anything else. Between left-wing students, left-wing professors, and left-wing news stations in public areas, support for peace at all costs makes this poster a dorm room mainstay for this generation and, most likely, all those yet to come.

20. You Are Here

For the space nut in your dorm hall, it’s tough to beat the “You Are Here” poster for the geek factor and sheer intrigue it possesses. Anyone who stops to analyze it will likely spend the rest of the day fixating on how small and insignificant we really are in light of the huge, immense galaxy we live in. Plus, it’s a refreshing break from the girls-booze-movies poster trifecta we’ve seen so far!

21. Lovely Day for a Guiness

Another popular theme of dorm room posters is using seemingly irrelevant things (such as a Toucan, in this case) to communicate messages about drinking, partying, and sex. In this poster, we see a toucan perched atop a post, overlooking a town with a full glass of Guiness on his beak. If subtlety is your name, this poster is your game!

22. Goals

Another Demotivators-style dorm poster that has stood the test of time is “Goals.” Featuring the almost full exposed chest of a woman in a red see-through bra, the caption warns the wayward student to “focus on your goals, but just don’t get caught focusing.” Consider this the ideal poster for the student who can never seem to focus on his studies long enough to actually finish them!

23. Shelby Mustang

If you were worried that we’d gotten this far on the list without showing a car poster, fear not! Featuring a tantalizingly fast Shelby Mustang GT500 splashed across an American flag, this poster is required decorating for the student/auto enthusiast at heart. And while it’s nothing to sneeze at, the Shelby is just about as cliche as it gets when it comes to muscle cars!

24. Clothing Optional

Another nod to the sex-charged atmosphere at the typical college is the proverbial “Clothing Optional” sign. Made to mimick the look of an actual road sign, this poster is seen as a cue that sexual promiscuity and wild nights should be expected, or at least hoped for!

25. George Costanza

For some unknown reason, this poster of George Costanza spread out on a couch in his underwear is seen in a great many dorm rooms around the country. Call it a testament to Seinfeld’s popularity, a sign of comfort with one’s sexuality, or just plain weird, but don’t be surprised if a visit to the local state school puts you face to face with this man’s exposed body far more often than you would like!

26. Scarface

No collection of cliche dorm posters would be complete without the epic “Scarface” poster. While it might scare off your female visitors, there’s nothing like Al Pacino’s intimidating stare to give off the aura of “bad ass” that any self-respecting male student loves.

27. Beatles

Any true music aficionado should have this poster front and center on their dorm room walls. It just doesn’t get any more legendary than the Beatles, the band who literally brought music to the masses, and so it’s no surprise that this and similar posters are seen in mass quantity at colleges everywhere.

28. Lesbian Kiss

They say college is a time of experimentation, and if that’s the case, what better poster than this one? It would take the most uptight square this side of Ferris Bueller’s science teacher not to see this poster and get pumped up for the hard charging, skirt chasing, party going lifestyle college has to offer, which is why it remains one of the most popular posters around.