The secret of successful bullying is knowing that the best possible outcome is that the person will rise to the occasion. It's not pretty, but speaking as a vintage Mean Girl I can tell you there's always the hope that they'll break out of whatever lame shit they're stuck in, and prove you wrong. Resist this, anybody can tell you, is the true creed of the social assassin. We have only as much power as you give us. Serena's naturally sensitive to territories, it's part of her natural social intelligence; Blair did so much more than invite her in, like an unsuspecting vampire victim: she demanded Serena's presence, pushing just the right buttons to bring her on campus and accomplishing what even a handwritten invitation from one of the secret kings of the world could not. Everything else is just playing the role Blair's set out for her.

I wanted freedom
Bound and restricted
You'd never dream of breaking this fixation

Jordan explains the basic shit to Nate, somehow sensing that he needs information like, "whatever major you decide on, you can mix it up with electives." She touts the wonder of Yale's choices, and offers as her favorites "The Role Of Sex In Art," and "Great Hoaxes In Archaeology." Nate can't believe they're classes, even though obviously they are, and they laugh about the state of American higher education. We deny minorities and the poor their basic rights to a competitive education so that we can discuss this shit? That is awesome. And then you're telling me at the end of this, I get to contribute to my upper-middle-class family's legacy of accumulated wealth, thus ensuring an ever-widening gap between the legislative and political decision-makers and the peasant class whose poverty and agony sustain the very lifestyle to which I am accustomed? That is even funner! Between ivory tower academia and estate tax loopholes, our entire country will become even more a fiefdom in my lifetime! I am a witness to our racist history! There really are two Americas!