Name: Jordan Ellerman
Age: 19
Hometown: Wheaton, IL
Major: English / Creative Writing
Extracurricular activities: Staff of Madison Review
# of roommates: 1
# of classes: 4
As Jordan came on the line, I was struck by how chill he was. We all know a guy like Jordan, who is almost miraculously able to take everything in stride and with a wide smile. He’s a nineteen-year-old from a small suburb outside of Chicago where the friends were great but the atmosphere became a bit stifling. Jordan has been loving the freedom that comes with college, and is finally enjoying classes and getting into subjects that really interest him. As a die-hard music lover, Jordan particularly enjoys the opportunities on campus to connect with other musicians and check out concerts at the Union. Here's Jordan's take on what kind of stuff he prefers to keep from his parents seeing, what NOT to do at frat parties, and how to handle getting sexiled:
So what was the main reason you wanted to do the show?
J: I’ve always been really interested in film and documenting things, so I thought documenting my college experience would be really fun. I never got home videos like other kids did, so I feel like I’m making up for lost time.
Did you receive any monetary compensation from MTV?
J: I don’t really want to talk about that.
Your parents came to you and said they may need you to pay your own tuition. How are you dealing with the possibility of having to pay for college yourself?
J: Its stressful. I think my parents just want me to do all I can, you know. I mean, I have a summer job already locked down and I’ll probably be getting a job next fall. They didn’t really want me to get a job freshman year, so I can, you know, do what I need for school. I don’t want to say it’s not as big of a deal as it’s made out to be. It’s just that I think my parents are a little more lenient on it, they just want me to keep my spending down and, you know, make as much money as I can.
How did College Life impact your relationships with your friends?
J: You know, its never really been exactly like that, just because I made my friends before I had the camera, and all of the friends I have right now have been friends since the first week of school. You know, they’ve been with me and been on board with it, so it really hasn’t affected my social life too much.
Did you or your friends censor what you said on camera because you knew the whole world will see it?
J: Oh, did we like check ourselves? Of course, you are always conscious about the camera, and my mom, she’s all about “I don’t want to hear you cursing on TV!” so maybe I’ve turned down the cursing a little bit, but we don’t check ourselves too much.
I know you said you’ve had your friends since the beginning of school, but do you notice it changing the dynamics of your friendships, even just a little bit?
J: No, not really. I mean, every once in a while my friends will get on me about shooting, because sometimes I’ll get a little preoccupied, you know, kinda be lazy about it and they’ll get on me about shooting. So, I mean, they’re like a good support team but as far as their personality goes and it being an accurate portrayal of who they are off camera, I think it’s pretty spot on. Or, they’ll pick it up and turn it on. (laughs)
Did you ever sit down and say, “We aren’t going to say this when the camera is on?”
J: Um, yeah. I mean, I try to steer clear of some things that I just wouldn’t ever want my parents to hear, or see, so, you know when it gets into sex, drugs, and rock and roll, all of that good stuff, we try to steer clear of putting that on camera.
Okay, that makes sense, I’m the same way. Well, are you happy with the scenes chosen for the first episode?
J: Yeah, yeah I think, I mean, I dunno, I guess so. It was pretty accurate.
I was checking in the bio [on the MTV site] and it had your dormroom walkthrough, and I was actually kind of disappointed because I was hoping to see more of you in the first episode. Was there more and they just decided not to include it this time around?
J: There's a couple of things that happened in the first episode that were in the pilot and then got cut for the first episode. It was just, you know, that had to do with the influence of higher-ups at MTV. I’m not like torn up about not getting as much air time, I don’t like, care about that at all.
Okay, that leads into my next question. Do you think your life, so far, at least from what you’ve seen, was accurately portrayed because you did your own filming, or was it kind of misrepresented through editing?
J: The edits cut it down pretty good. I mean how much can they, you know, do things, the only things they really edit are these little snapshots of like tacks between scenes, it’s all completely realistic.
What’s your one favorite thing about college so far?
J: I completely can’t pick one. I really enjoy signing up for my own classes and taking classes that, you know, I’m actually interested in taking, instead of like high school, where it’s like, you don’t get much of a choice, you know? So that’s been great because in high school I’d kinda…not do my homework, I never really did my homework and I’d always, like, slack off in class because I hated the subject, but now I’m taking classes I’m actually interested in, and I’m more into my studies. I really like being able to hang out with my friends. Instead of having to call them to come over you can just walk over and they’re right next door…girls...
So, now that the show is airing, how do you feel about having people on your campus knowing details about your personal life when you’ve never even met them?
J: Ah, this is a good question! This is kind of the thing that bugs me out, like when the preview hit and whatnot, I, hopefully, um, I mean I’m sure I’ll be able to meet people that haven’t seen the show and people that reserve their judgment, you know, people that are going to judge me based solely on what they see on television aren’t the type of people I necessarily wanna be friends with, or, um, I’d be in a relationship with. It doesn’t bug me that much, because I don’t feel the need to associate myself with those types of people.
Okay, so has anyone come up to you so far and said “Hey, I saw you on TV!”
J: (laughs) Yeah, um, yeah, I get kids in my smaller classes that will come up to me after class and I’ll get random text messages every once in a while.
I understand that you wouldn’t want those people as your friends, but out of curiosity are you kind of enjoying the feeling of a little bit of celebrity status right now?
J: (laughing) Oh no not at all! I would rather fly under the radar; I’m more of a low-key kind of guy. So, you know, if someone comes up to me about the show, I’ll talk to them about it, but I don’t walk around, you know, flaunt it or anything. I won’t bring it up unless they bring it up.
How do you think doing College Life has affected your college experience, either in a positive or a negative way?
J: You know, I entered this project with a pretty good sense of who I was and what I wanted my college experience to be, and I think I stay true to that, and I don’t really let the camera burden me or get in my way. It’s really never affected my decision making at all, so I’m pretty sure if I didn’t have the camera, my college experience would probably be exactly the same.
Do you have any advice for incoming freshmen, now that you are a semester and a half in?
J: Hmm. Don’t drink the wap at frat parties.
Don’t drink the what at frat parties?
J: Wap. It’s kind of like Jungle Juice; that they make for girls.
Uh-huh.
J: Yeah, they put like Manex in it and shit.
That sucks.
J: Frat parties are intense.
Now that you have been in college for a semester, do you think you might want to change majors?
J: I’m pretty dead set on my major. I’m still thinking about, you know, doing a minor, I was thinking about maybe philosophy. I’ve also thought about double majoring in journalism, you know, but that’s pretty down the line, I think. I still want to continue with the Madison Review, being on staff, hopefully I can become an editor when I’m done with classes, so I’m hoping to continue that.
Okay, that’s cool. Are you considering doing any other internships or something like study abroad?
J: Yeah, um, I actually spent a couple weeks of this last summer in the Czech Republic. I love Prague, I mean I fell in love with it, so I’m looking to study abroad in Prague either my next year or my junior year. I’m really looking forward to that.
What do you think about the culture on your campus, is there anything in particular that you love or anything in particular that you hate?
J: I think the thing that I like the most is that, as big of a party school as Madison is, the academics are just stellar. Almost everyone on campus is an intellectual, I just remember first semester, you can go to house parties and the TV’s on CNN or something and people are like following the elections. It’s just really cool, Madison is a really good balance of partying and academic integrity and I really, really like that.
That’s cool! And is there anything that you don’t like about it?
J: Anything I don’t like? Hmmmm……let me think. There’s a lot of coasties.
A lot of what?
J: Of coasties. I’m sorry if you are a coasty. Are you a coasty?
Nooo…what's a coasty?
J: Like, someone from the coast.
Um, no, not really, I’m a desert ranch girl soo...
J: Okay, cool, yeah like, coasty, like coasty girls.
Okay, a lot of coasty girls. What is it like, are they too ditzy, seem shallow, or what is it about the coasty girls that you don’t like?
J: Coasty girls, they don’t wear pants, first of all. They like, yeah, they’re those girls that walk around in like, leggings and a T-shirt.
Oh yeah.
J: They weae leggings as pants, when they’re really not pants, and I want to tell them they’re not pants. And, um, I dunno, just every coasty I’ve ever met has been obnoxious.
Yeah, I think I’ve met like two non-obnoxious ones, but other than that I’ll have to agree.
J: Yeah, its funny though because two of my best guy friends are from Maryland and Delaware, you know, according to them that’s not the East Coast, that’s uh, Mid-Atlantic is what they like to call it, so they don’t lump themselves into the coasty category, but they’re getting there.
So when you refer to coasties you are referring to primarily East Coast girls, basically?
J: Yeah.
Okay, that makes a little more sense me because, you now, I’m here in Arizona so we get primarily West Coast. They’re not really better, in some ways, but I think they do dress a bit better.
J: Yeah, I would gather so.
Now, you said in your bio that you really love music, so what do you think of the music scene on campus?
J: Oh it's great, it's really great. I mean, the concerts they have at the Union are really good, you know, they had AA Basi a couple weeks ago, and Portugal. The Man is this week, and like you know I’ve met and I’m good friends with some kids that are in a local band and you know, I’ve been to a couple local shows and its really good, it’s a real good music scene. I mean, coming from Chicago, which has an amazing music scene too, I was really looking forward to, you know, the concerts that were held here, they get really good artists to come out.
Have you been able to connect with other musicians on campus?
J: Yeah, um, you know, I was playing with a guy for a while last semester, but that’s not anymore, and I’m friends with a couple kids that are musicans and we have a band, so you know, we get together and jam, and hang out.
How do you feel about the college classes you’re taking? Do you like the style of academics there?
J: Yeah, sometimes my parents were worried about this, and my sister kind of spoke of it, she went to Iowa, and it’s like people say you can get lost in the academics, cause I’m in a big university, you know, with the big lectures and whatnot but I think that the professors play a big part in preventing that by being so open about their office hours. I’ve met with every single one of my professors since I’ve been here and it’s been great, I mean, they’re really open about office hours, the TAs are really personable, so you know, it’s a big school, but it doesn’t really complicate the academics.
How do you feel about the attitudes of people on campus? Is it really different from where you grew up?
J: It’s a lot more liberal. It’s great, because I’m a lot more leaning towards liberal, with my politics. And also with religion, um, like, organized church and Christian religion just got terribly complicated in Wheaton, and not that I’m like, anti-religion or anything, you know, I respect people who are Christian and whatnot and follow faith but its good cause it’s nice to be in a community that’s a little more accepting.
How much, if any, contact do you have with the other cast members?
J: Well I met all of them at the beginning, I hang out with Kevin a lot, on the weekends, and Dan and Anna, so yeah, I mean, I’d say I see them on a regular basis. It’s not like MTV asked us to hang out or anything, you know, but we met these people and I became friends with some of them.
How did you manage to film yourself while you were out? Did you just, you know, hold the camera up a lot?
J: He-he, yeah. It’s great because my friends, like, they film too, so you know, if I can’t like hold the camera up or whatnot I can just hand it off to one of them.
How does your roommate feel about you doing it? Or roommates, rather.
J: Oh, my first roommate, he was, you know, he was fine with it. I never really hung out with him very much, so I don’t think he’s ever on camera. My roommate this semester is like, one of my best friends, so he likes being behind the camera more than being on the camera, but he’s not like terribly shy about it or upset about it.
Do you have any tips you can give us for getting along with roommates?
J: Ooo. Um, shower frequently, and if you get sexiled, don’t bitch about it.
I’m sorry, what was the last one?
J: Get sexiled? Like, if you get kicked out of the room because your roommate has a girl, don’t bitch about it.
That’s awesome, I’ve never heard that term before. Alright, is there anything you would want to tell the people that are going to be seeing this?
J: Yeah, um, a lot of people on campus are unhappy about how Madison as a whole is represented on film, and you know, I just want people to know that the show is our story; we never said that we were the voice of our campus, we’ve never set out to represent Madison as a whole. You know, we’re just trying to tell our own stories, and so I hope that people don’t pass judgment on Madison based on the shenanigans that we get in.
Have you experienced any discrimination because of the filming, because you are always being seen with your camera?
J: Um, you know, people always have something to say. I don’t pay too much mind to it. I mean, I’ve never gotten like harassed or anything, it’s more people talking about on Facebook and whatnot, but no one’s come up and been in my face or anything. The only time I’ve run into a problem is with like, athletes and people who don’t want to be on camera. That’s completely fine, if you don’t want to be on camera I won’t film you. But as far as people uh, you know, hollering at me, no.
Okay. And, um, I noticed on the pilot that you would have some people’s faces that you could see and some that would be fuzzied out, so do you guys have to get consent forms from everyone in the shot?
J: Yeah, we have to get consent forms from everyone. There’s this one mob rule that they have with television, that’s like if you can’t really make out the person’s face, that’s fine. Sometimes at like parties we’ll put something on the door, it will say, like, you will be on camera, and you know, so we give people warning. If they talk at all or if they’re face is on camera for more than an instant then we have to get consent forms. But if you’re here and there’s just a huge group of people and you can’t really make out who anyone is, then we don’t need a consent form.
I can only imagine that having to get all those consent forms would kind of be a pain, wouldn’t it?
J: Yeah, um, luckily I usually just stick to filming with my friends, and people that I’m comfortable with, and, you know, they’ve all signed consent forms last fall. We have people that help us with that too.
So I would assume that, it sounds like you are pretty happy you decided to go to college?
J: Yeah, definitely.
Want more College Life? We've got you covered: