Danielle Fishel Says It's Okay Topanga Didn't Go to Yale for Cory Because 'She Would've Been Successful Anywhere'

Mar. 15, 2025

Ben Savage (left) and Danielle Fishel in ‘Boy Meets World’ in 1998.Photo:ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Danielle Fishel is weighing in on a hot topic: Topanga’s decision not to go to Yale.

On the Jan. 21 episode of thePod Meets Worldpodcast, Fishel and her cohosts Will Friedle andRider Strongresponded to listener voice notes about Topanga’s choice. In the season 5 finale ofBoy Meets World,Fishel’s Topangaproposes to her boyfriend Cory (Ben Savage) and ultimately decides not to attend Yale. Instead, she follows Cory to Pennbrook University.

Fishel, 43, explained on the podcast episode that, though it’s controversial, she doesn’t think Topanga made the wrong choice. “She would’ve been successful anywhere,” Fishel said. She explained that the show puts “a lot of importance” on marriage and relationships but it also puts an emphasis on “where you go to school.”

Ben Savage (left) and Danielle Fishel in ‘Boy Meets World’ in 1998.ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

“I do still just generally think when you’re the smartest person in your school, or in the top of your class, and you’re driven, you can kind of do well anywhere,” she said. “I think of Topanga as being the type that you could throw her into a situation where she might not know anything and very quickly she’ll figure it out. She’ll figure out how to do what needs to be done and how to be good at it and how to succeed. And I think she could have done that anywhere.”

But Strong, 45, agreed more with the people who wanted Topanga to go to Yale. “Here’s my problem. Does Cory ever make a similar sacrifice?” he asked. “Does Cory ever choose his relationship over his personal success or his person? No.”

From left: Danielle Fishel, Ben Savage, Rowan Blanchard and Sabrina Carpenter in ‘Girl Meets World’ in 2014.Mitch Haaseth/Disney Channel via Getty

Mitch Haaseth/Disney Channel via Getty

“I just feel like Topanga is asked as a character to make this incredible sacrifice and she does for the sake of highlighting this powerful relationship,” he said. “But Cory doesn’t do the equivalent. He never has to do the equivalent. He just has to give up, not sleeping with random girls throwing themselves at him.”

Friedle said the show had Cory tell Topanga “once or twice” to go to Yale, but that Cory “didn’t even believe that.” He added, “It’s very strange. It’s a selfish character with a selfless character.”

Back in June,Fishel reflected on the relationship between Cory and Topangain another episode. She empathized with how “very real and overwhelming” love can be in teenage relationships and said that if she’d been watching as a kid, she “would have absolutely been rooting” for the couple.

“Just to see teenagers who love each other winning and it being taken seriously,” Fishel explained. “Everyone’s telling you when you’re a teenager, ‘You don’t know what love is,’ and you just want someone to say, ‘Maybe you do. Maybe this is real. Maybe you’re right and this is forever and we’re wrong.’ ”

Still, in an August episode ofPod Meets World, Fishel saidshe personally wouldn’t have had Cory and Topanga get married early in the show’s seventh season.

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“I think I might have her still do the proposal,” she said, “and maybe he still says yes, and we go through the whole planning, and then we end up deciding it’s maybe not the right choice for us right now.”

source: people.com