Last Updated on 20 September 2025

I searched the Internet for lists of the best movies of all time that were set in a school. Criteria included the movies being ranked, not just listed, and generally created by groups, whether teams or committees or based on general public voting (like Ranker.com). Some of them are only a school for part of the movie or are about school life or college life, with the school building being less important to the story.

I was able to find 32 lists. I took the 32 lists and added all their content into a spreadsheet, noting the rank of every film. I ended up averaging the rankings each movie got (there were 151 that were on at least 2 lists) and dividing that average by a factor of the number of lists that movie was on. The lowest score meant a high ranking average on many lists. The complete spreadsheet is attached at the bottom.

The movies that were on the most lists (out of 32) were:

  • The Breakfast Club (1985) – 18 lists
  • Dead Poets Society (1989) – 15 lists
  • Mean Girls (2004) – 14 lists
  • Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) – 13 lists
  • 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) – 13 lists
  • Grease (1978) – 13 lists
  • Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) – 12 lists
  • Clueless (1995) – 12 lists
  • Legally Blonde (2001) – 11 lists
  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) – 10 lists
  • Election (1999) – 10 lists

Here are links to the lists I used along with dates the lists were created:

Best Movies Set in a SchoolDownload

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