Is Finch College in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ a real place?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Season 3 of 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' features UNC Chapel Hill as Finch College.
- Author Jenny Han ('02 alumna) used her UNC experience to shape the fictional campus.
- Filming locations include UNC landmarks and Wilmington’s coastal Cousins Beach stand-in.
The final chapter of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” series is picking up in a different part of North Carolina.
Instead of the fictional Cousins Beach shot along the coast, the third season starts out at Finch College — which is actually the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“It’s the end of her junior year of college, and Belly’s looking forward to another summer in Cousins with her soulmate, Jeremiah. Her future seems set, until some core-shaking events bring her first love Conrad back into her life,” Prime Video’s description of the third season says.
The hit drama show is based on the bestselling trilogy by Jenny Han, who drew from her own college experience when picking the campus for the fictional Finch College. There once was a college with the same in New York, but the one in “The Summer I Turned Pretty” is tied to UNC.
Those who’ve read the books may remember that the Fischer brothers are huge UNC fans and that “Conrad could talk about Carolina basketball forever.”
While UNC isn’t specifically mentioned in this season, the best-selling author and show runner did bring a touch of Tar Heel magic to the TV show for what’s supposed to be a small Rhode Island college, as reported by the university.
Finch College TSITP
“I think that Carolina is one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. We were only a couple of hours away, so why not try? I was thrilled when the University said yes,” Han, a ‘02 alumna, told The Well. “So many of the cast and crew have said to me, ‘This is the most beautiful campus I’ve ever been on.’ That makes me proud. I’m proud to show it off.”
Last summer, Christopher Briney and Lola Tung, who play Conrad Fisher and Isabel “Belly” Conklin were spotted around UNC’s campus and parts of downtown Chapel Hill, The News & Observer previously reported.
In the first two episodes, which premiered Wednesday, July 16 on Prime Video, you may even recognize a few notable spots on campus, including McCorkle Place and Old East — which was also her old dorm.
“Belly goes to Finch, a smaller school in the northeast, but I always imagined it with the classic collegiate charm Carolina has. It’s somewhere you want to spend time,” Han told The Well. “Carolina is a place that supports and fosters young people’s dreams, and I wanted to give Belly that college experience.”
Like previous seasons, much of this season was also filmed around the Wilmington area, which is depicted as the fictional Cousins Beach.
How to watch ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’
The 11-episode season is streaming exclusively on Prime Video with new episodes releasing weekly until Wednesday, Sept. 17.
This story was originally published July 18, 2025 at 2:19 PM with the headline "Is Finch College in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ a real place?."
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