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

• Danielle Fishel opened up on the ‘Pod Meets World’ podcast about Topanga’s decision to not go to Yale and follow Cory to his college in season 5 of 'Boy Meets World'

• Fishel said that she thinks Topanga “would’ve been successful anywhere,” so ultimately going to Yale didn’t matter that much

• Co-host Rider Strong, who played Shawn, said that he still doesn’t like it because Topanga is the one who “sacrifices” for the relationship when Cory never does

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

On the Jan. 21 episode of the Pod Meets World podcast, Fishel and her cohosts Will Friedle and Rider Strong responded to listener voice notes about Topanga’s choice. In the season 5 finale of Boy Meets World, Fishel’s Topanga proposes 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.”

“Do we need to?” she asked about the emphasis on Yale specifically. “Topanga was gonna be successful no matter where she went to school.” Viewers’ opinions about the decision were split down the middle, which Fishel was surprised by. “I actually thought more people would've said, ‘Why throw a wrench into your entire life?’ ” she said about Topanga’s decision to keep her relationship going.

Friedle, 48, asked Fishel if she thought people’s opinions were affected by the show’s sequel series, Girl Meets World, in which Topanga and Cory are happily married and she is a successful lawyer. She said that even taking the sequel series out of it, she still stood by Topanga’s choice.

“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.” 

Related: 'Boy Meets World' 's Danielle Fishel Recalls Nearly Being Fired at 12 Age During First Day on Set

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.”

“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 Topanga in 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. 

Related: Where Would Cory and Topanga Be Now? Danielle Fishel Reflects on 25th Anniversary of Boy Meets World Wedding

“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 of Pod Meets World, Fishel said she 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.”

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