In Gilmore Girls, which version of Rory Gilmore was better: Chilton Rory or Yale Rory? This a popular debate between fans, but most fans agree that Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) was a better student (and person) when she was in high school at the show’s fictional Chilton Preparatory School.
For the most part, Chilton is a great school for Rory. It’s strict about its academics, making students like Rory work diligently to get good grades. Rory worked hard to excel at Chilton while never forgetting about her dreams. In many ways, she was a completely different person at Chilton than when she was at Yale University.
She's Always Organized And Prepared
While at Chilton, Rory is obsessively organized and prepared for school. For example, she makes sure to buy three highlighters for her school supplies—in case she loses one and another dries up, she will have an extra. She always meets her deadlines.
Even before Rory starts her first day at Yale, she accidentally wrote down the wrong date of when she was supposed to move into her freshman dorm room. At Chilton, Rory wouldn’t have made this mistake. She would have been organized and more cautious about her crucial dates and deadlines.
She Studies More
Rory attends Yale University, a prestigious Ivy League university. She worked so hard to be accepted into an Ivy League school, but the show doesn’t feature her studying very often while she's in college. Occasionally, viewers see her working on a term paper, but Rory studies more during her Chilton years.
When Rory isn’t at school or with her friends, she’s studying and working on class assignments for her Chilton schoolwork. She seems to take her schoolwork more seriously, and in return, she’s dedicated to her progress. She studies to improve her grades, and, because of this strong work ethic, she is named the valedictorian of her graduating class. Rory seems to be more dedicated to her schoolwork when she’s attending Chilton.
She’s More Well-Rounded
While Rory is a student at Chilton, she’s more involved in school organizations, including the student newspaper, The Franklin, the student body, the debate team, and other volunteer projects. She teams up with her archenemy and sometimes friend Paris Geller (Liza Weil).
In the season two episode “Like Mother, Like Daughter,” Rory is advised to join more groups because she is a “loner.” Despite this reputation, Rory is an involved student, and she is respected by her peers at Chilton. At Yale, she is mostly only involved as a staff member of the Yale Daily News.
She Balances Her Schoolwork And Relationships
Rory has two significant relationships while she’s a student at Chilton: Dean Forester (Jared Padalecki) and Jess Mariano (Milo Ventimiglia). While she’s serious about both relationships, she still works hard to balance her schoolwork with spending time with her boyfriends. She doesn’t forget her priorities.
As a student at Yale, Rory has a serious relationship with Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry). She sometimes prioritizes Logan over her schoolwork and academic responsibilities. At Chilton, she learned to have a healthy balance between her love life and her schoolwork.
She Balances Her Schoolwork And Social Life
When Rory attends Yale, she has a hard time balancing her responsibilities at The Yale Daily News, her schoolwork, her relationships, and her social life. While in college, she talks less and less with her childhood best friend, Lane Kim (Keiko Agena), which is one of the reasons Rory got worse as the show progressed.
At Chilton, Rory was dedicated to her schoolwork, but she also learned to balance her social life with her academics. She knew she had to study, but she also spent time with Lane. It took her a while to learn how to balance everything, but she knew it was important to be a good friend.
She Participates In Stars Hollow Events
While Rory is living in Stars Hollow, Connecticut, she participates in various town events, including the Autumn Festival, Bid-on-a-Basket, Founders Day Firelight Festival, the Winter Carnival, End of Summer Madness Festival, town meetings, the snowman building contest, the Bracebridge Dinner, and the 24-hour Dance Marathon.
Rory volunteers to help and Taylor Doose (Michael Winters) eventually relies on Rory to participate in every Stars Hollow event. While she’s busy with her studies at Chilton, she’s never too busy to be an active member of Stars Hollow. When she attends Yale, she’s less involved in Stars Hollow. She participates in a few events, including the Festival of Living Art, but she’s not as actively involved as she was during her high school years.
She Reads More
Rory is known for being an avid reader. She loves books so much that she brings a book with her wherever she goes. This character trait is more prominent in the earlier seasons when Rory attends Chilton. She reads when she’s traveling to school on the public bus. She has more books than she can fit on a bookshelf.
When Rory attends Yale, she doesn’t read as much; she instead focuses on other responsibilities, including The Yale Daily News. The show doesn’t feature her love for reading as much as the first three seasons, which is disappointing for the fans who identify with Rory’s bookworm personality.
She Didn’t Take Time Off From Chilton
When Rory attends Chilton, she is completely dedicated to her schoolwork. She doesn’t let anything get in the way of her goals. She wants to succeed so she can attend Harvard University (later changed to Yale).
Towards the end of the fifth season, Rory works at a newspaper internship with Logan’s father, Mitchum Huntzberger (Gregg Henry), while she’s studying at Yale. In “Blame Booze and Melville,” she receives a poor performance review from Mitchum. He tells her that she doesn’t have what it takes to become a journalist. Disappointed by the news, she steals a yacht with Logan, gets arrested, and decides to take a semester off from Yale. As a student at Chilton, Rory is determined, and she never would have allowed this setback to affect her as much. Instead, she worked harder to prove everyone wrong.
She Remembers Her Dreams
When Rory first starts attending Chilton, she is advised that she might not succeed. She might even fail and be forced to go back to Stars Hollow High School. In the season one episode “The Deer Hunters,” she receives a bad grade on an essay. She studies for an English exam about William Shakespeare, but she’s late for school and misses the test. It’s discouraging, but she doesn’t back down.
Rory remembers her dreams. She’s working hard at Chilton to become a journalist someday, specifically to be the next Christiane Amanpour. She knows she can succeed and she doesn’t let anything stop her from trying her best. The Chilton version of Rory would be disappointed in the Yale version—and even the version of Rory in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, in which Rory doesn’t work hard as a journalist and gives up on several dreams.
She Lives An Average Life
In the first three seasons, Rory and her mother, Lorelai (Lauren Graham), live an average life in Stars Hollow. They’re not rich and they understand the differences between their simple, ordinary life and Lorelai’s parents. This keeps Rory grounded while she attends Chilton, where she is surrounded by students from rich families.
However, after Rory starts attending Yale, she becomes more privileged and spoiled. She has an expensive wardrobe, goes on trips to Logan’s beach house, receives an expensive Birkin bag from Logan, and she even lives with her rich grandparents while she’s taking time off from Yale and working for the Daughters of the American Revolution organization. She seems to forget the average lifestyle she had in the show’s earlier seasons. She’s more stuck up and expects to be pampered, whereas the Chilton version of Rory always remembered where she came from.