Though the film takes place at schools in Ithaca, Boston, and Austin, almost all of the college scenes were filmed at Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the University of Georgia, all near Atlanta.
The university seen in a flyover in the opening scene is actually Harvard University. The flyover is the same footage used in Old School.
Each College in the movie, other than the University of Tennessee, is altered from names of real colleges. For example, University of Ithaca does not exist but is supposed to spoof Ithaca College and Cornell, neither does University of Austin which is a spoof of University of Texas, or University of Boston which could spoof Boston College, or Boston University
Although there is no actual Ithaca University, the writers (Todd Phillips and 'Armstrong, Scot') both are alumni of Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY, and the movie is partly based on their time there.
