Created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble, HBO Max’s The Sex Lives of College Girls has quickly become a defining coming-of-age comedy for the modern era. Blending razor-sharp humor with genuine emotional depth, the series explores the messy, hilarious, and chaotic reality of navigating higher education.
As the girls leave their freshman dorms behind and step into sophomore year, the stakes are higher, the coursework is harder, and the romantic entanglements are messier than ever. If you are looking to catch up on the latest season or want to know exactly where the beautiful, fictional Essex College is filmed, here is your ultimate guide.
Nailing Sophomore Year: The Plot of Season 3
Season 3 thrusts our favorite suitemates right into the pressure cooker of their second year at Vermont’s prestigious Essex College. Returning from summer break, the girls immediately face massive shifts in their personal and academic lives.
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- Leighton’s Departure: The season kicks off with a major shakeup as Leighton (Reneé Rapp) realizes her math classes at Essex are holding her back. She ultimately decides to transfer to MIT in Boston, marking Rapp’s highly publicized exit from the main cast.
- The New Roommate: Filling the void left by Leighton is Kacey (Gracie Lawrence), a recent transfer student who moved to Essex to be with her childhood boyfriend, Calvin. When Calvin is exposed as a cheater, Kacey spirals into an identity crisis, forcing the suite to help her navigate single life for the very first time.
- Healing the Rift: Kimberly and Whitney manage to squash their lingering feud over Canaan. Kimberly realizes they are better off as friends, prioritizing her friendship with Whitney over a messy college romance.
- Whitney’s Burnout: Juggling rigorous STEM classes, soccer, and a complex dating life pushes Whitney to the brink. She experiences severe panic attacks, leading her to quit soccer and advocate for student-athlete mental health.
- Bela’s New Path: Stepping back from the comedy scene, Bela takes on a new role as a Resident Advisor (RA). In a surprising twist during the season finale, Bela officially comes out as bisexual, adding a beautiful layer of self-discovery to her character arc.
The Real Essex College: Filming Locations
While the show is set at the fictional Essex College in the lush, snowy mountains of Vermont, the production team has actually hopped all over the United States to bring the campus to life.
To capture the quintessential, Ivy League aesthetic required for Essex, the creators utilized several distinct university campuses:
- Vassar College (New York): During Season 1, the production heavily utilized Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. The stunning gothic architecture and the beautiful Frederick Ferris Thompson Memorial Library provided the perfect historical, East Coast collegiate vibe.
- University of Washington (Seattle): For Season 2, the crew moved to the Pacific Northwest. The University of Washington campus—specifically the iconic Quad—served as the primary stand-in for the girls’ spring semester.
- UCLA (Los Angeles): For Season 3, production largely shifted to the sunny campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Grab a Latte at “Sips”
If there is one iconic location fans always want to visit, it is Sips, the bustling campus coffee shop where Kimberly works part-time.
Sips is actually a real, functioning café located on the UCLA campus. The scenes are filmed inside the Kerckhoff Coffee House, located within Kerckhoff Hall. If you are ever visiting Southern California, you can step right into Kimberly’s shoes and grab a latte in the exact spot where all the campus gossip goes down.
By seamlessly blending the historic stone buildings of New York with the bustling, sun-drenched student hubs of California, the creators of The Sex Lives of College Girls have built a universally relatable, visually stunning college experience.
