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The Colleges Most Worthy Of 'PLL's Spencer

by Caitlin Flynn

It looks like we'll finally see Spencer, Hanna, Aria, and Emily graduate high school and head off to college, as the Pretty Little Liars Season 6 time jump is fast approaching. By my calculations, senior year should have rolled around a while ago, but time is a funny thing in Rosewood. Although time jumps have not always worked well on TV shows, I'm optimistic about this one. Keeping all four Liars in the Rosewood area for college would have felt too contrived and, although you couldn't find a more tight-knit group of friends, they have very different academic and extracurricular interests, so it would be nearly impossible to find a college that's a good fit for all of them.

Spencer has been the resident brainiac and academic perfectionist since day one, but A sabotaged her acceptance to University of Pennsylvania and her subsequent interview at Oxford (I'm pretty sure having blood spill out of your purse during a college interview puts you at a major disadvantage). Spencer has had college on her mind since approximately kindergarten, so I can't wait to see where she enrolls. Barring any further interference from A, she'll certainly have plenty of options — Spencer has never allowed herself any grade below an A (ironic?), she spent a summer taking courses at Hollis, and she's somehow found time for extracurriculars including field hockey, piano, and the academic decathlon team.

UPenn and Oxford may be off the table, but there are plenty of other colleges where Spencer would fit in. Here are three schools she should consider.

1. Princeton University

The university Spencer always imagined attending didn't work out, but luckily there's more than one college with ivy-covered buildings and amazing academics. Plus, she'll probably be eager to spend a few years away from Pennsylvania. She's a legacy at UPenn, so it would be great to see Spencer prove to her family (and herself) that she's got the academic chops to attend an Ivy League school without any advantages.

Princeton has consistently been a top-ranking university in the U.S. and Spencer would find no shortage of equally driven peers and a variety of challenging, engaging courses to choose from. Three of the current Supreme Court Associate Justices attended Princeton, as did First Lady Michelle Obama — and somehow it wouldn't surprise me if Spencer ended up in politics.

2. The University Of Cambridge

If Spencer wants to escape the United States entirely for her college years, there's always Cambridge. She seems to genuinely love England and, although her last trip there was ultimately foiled by A, she had some fun first and enjoyed a date with Melissa and Wren's flatmate, Colin (who can resist a guy with a British accent?). Spencer would probably love living in a country with such rich history and culture — and Cambridge itself isn't too shabby a school. Chartered in 1209, the university boasts over 100 libraries and eight museums, so it would basically be paradise for anyone who is passionate about academics. Cambridge is also well-known for its rowing team, so maybe Spencer could pick up a new sport. Something tells me she'd be great at it — mainly because Spencer has never settled for anything less than perfection. If I'm wrong, there's always cricket.

3. Williams College

Spencer may also want to consider a small liberal arts college such as Williams. Like most liberal arts colleges of its caliber, Williams has around 2,000 undergraduates so she'd have small class sizes and the same academic advantages as an Ivy League school. One of Williams' most beloved traditions is an eight-hour trivia contest that is hosted by the college radio station at the end of each semester. Call me crazy, but an all-night marathon of trivia competition sounds exactly like Spencer's cup of tea.

Wherever our beloved Spencer chooses to attend college, we can rest assured that she'll thrive. And I refuse to believe the showrunners will allow A to thwart her college applications another time — it's a cruel world in Rosewood, but it can't be that cruel... right? For more on the Liars' possible futures, check out Bustle's PLL podcast.

Images: ABC Family; atramos, llee_wu, serseancrane/Flickr