For most students, college is an incredibly transformative period of time. For those who take the four-year-track directly out of high school, the transformation has a lot to do with the age in which they first enter the doors. Many students leave college four years older, and hopefully the person they were at eighteen doesn’t hold a candle to the person they are in their early twenties. And beyond the factors of natural growth and evolution like time and age, college is filled with transformative experiences on its own. For many students, it’s the first time they’re fully immersed in environments that challenge their worldview, whether through academic inquiry, new friendships, or cultural experiences.
Here in New York City, cultural experiences are plentiful. As Hunter is nestled in the heart of the Upper East Side, just a quick walk to Central Park or the MET will immerse any student in different types of music, art, fashion choices and so many more of the wonderful things that make this city the incredible place that it is. With all of the access to transformative experiences, these shifts naturally extend to students’ tastes in media. What once appealed during high school, familiar comfort shows, mainstream songs, or required reading, can give way to more niche, experimental, or intellectually stimulating choices. Late-night dorm conversations, film screenings, literature courses, and even heartbreaks or personal growth spur a reevaluation of what resonates with us all.
For some Hunter Students, access to live events and performances are what’s taken their taste in media to the next level. “I think before college, I didn’t know about a lot of my favorite songs,” said senior English and pre-med major Samantha Cavusoglu. “I love Dominic Fike and Olivia Rodrigo, and now near the end of college, l’ve actually gotten to go to their concerts in the city, which is pretty cool. I think that’s giving me the chance to also find new people I like, through concerts.”
Cavusoglu is not alone in her affinity for live music, especially here in the city. According to this Pitchfork article, Spotify’s analysis of college students’ listening habits revealed that musical tastes vary significantly across campuses. For instance, New York schools showed fewer country titles than schools in other major cities, which may not come as a very big surprise to many NYC college students. Additionally, popular streaming tracker Last.fm examined the effects of concert attendance on music listenership. The study found that attending a live concert led to a significant increase in the attendee’s streaming of that artist’s music, and this effect extended to the attendees’ friends, regardless of whether or not they also attended the live event.
And for many students, it’s exactly that, human connection, that can foster relationships to various pieces of media. “I think that the things that I have integrated, that have become more
dear to me, are largely due to the people around me that have shown me them,” said senior archeology student Cecilia Brown. “And I think in a similar vein, the way that I watch shows and movies has changed. I feel like I really see the value in watching things with friends. I really like when it becomes more of a social thing. It becomes more intentional, and it kind of prevents it from becoming a form of escapism.”
As students navigate new environments, ideas, and relationships, their media tastes evolve in parallel. Exposure to diverse peer groups, increased independence, access to live events, and engagement with different academic and cultural scenes all contribute to a shifting landscape of preferences in music, film, books, and beyond. Ultimately, the media students consume before and after college often reflect two different versions of themselves, and it seems that nearly everything transformative about college contains its own sense of discovery. In many such cases, it all boils down to the people that we share it with.
