Among the more fun aspects of adjusting to college life in the US is discovering school traditions.

Inevitably, these entail boisterous (but benign) rivalries with other universities. Many times, these “feuds” spawn jokes that lampoon another school’s students, academics or athletics. “Light bulb jokes,” like the ones below, are among the most common.

The list of such jokes is long, but here are a few of our favorites:

How many Dartmouth students does it take to change a light bulb?

None – Hanover doesn’t have electricity.

How many Sarah Lawrence students does it take to change a light bulb?

Five – one to change the bulb and four to do an interpretive dance about it.

How many Connecticut College students does it take to change a light bulb?

Two – one to change the bulb and one to complain about how if they were at a better school the bulb wouldn’t have burned out.

How many Amherst students does it take to change a light bulb?

Thirteen – one to change the bulb and an a cappella group to immortalize the event in song.

How many Princeton students does it take to change a light bulb?

Two – one to mix the martinis and one to call an electrician.

How many Kenyon students does it take to change a light bulb?

I don’t know. I couldn’t find the campus.

How many Boston University students does it take to change a light bulb?

Three – one to change the bulb and two to check his math homework.

How many Brown students does it take to change a light bulb?

Eleven – one to change the bulb and ten to share the experience.

How many Cornell students does it take to change a light bulb?

Two – one to change the bulb and one to crack under the pressure.

How many Penn students does it take to change a light bulb?

Only one, but he gets six credits for it.

How many Yale students does it take to change a light bulb?

None – New Haven looks better in the dark.

How many Tufts students does it take to change a light bulb?

Two – one to change the bulb and another to loudly say how they did it as well as an Ivy League student.

How many Georgetown students does it take to change a light bulb?

Four – one to change the bulb, one to update Congress about their progress and two to throw the old bulb at American U. students.

How many Columbia students does it take to change a light bulb?

Seventy-six – one to change the bulb, fifty to protest the bulb’s right to not change and twenty-five to hold a counter-protest.

How many Williams students does it take to change a light bulb?

All of them – when you’re snowed in, there’s nothing else to do.

How many Bard students does it take to change a light bulb?

One – but she’ll only do it if it’s an alternative light bulb.

Keep a Sense of Humor!

Just as new undergraduates must learn American idioms to fully understand their new environment, so too must they stockpile these and other jokes about their college. The pleasure of campus life lies in its abundant social opportunities. If you can tell a good joke, chances are you’ll have little trouble making friends.

And if it happens to be a light bulb joke, little trouble making enemies too.

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