But how do college students find a costume that is either classic or super niche? Does pop culture have an impact on what students choose to wear?

Elementary education sophomore Haylee Jasinski is going as “kiss” – from the “kiss, marry, kill” trio – with her friends. Even though her costume isn't super unique, she said, it's different compared to the more common costumes like firefighters or construction workers.

Jasinski said she fully believes pop culture plays a role of influencing Halloween costumes every year, especially for college-aged people who frequently engage with social media. When she and her friends were trying to figure out what to be, they were “looking at past celebrities” and what their most popular costumes were in recent years, she said.

“I feel Halloween costumes are such a big ordeal for no reason and everyone puts so much thought and effort into them,” Jasinski said. “There’s kind of this thing where you don’t want to be too unique because you want people to know who you are, but you don’t want to be too basic.”

Jasinski said she thinks a lot of MSU students are going to dress up as more pop culture references than classics, including Justin and Hailey Bieber, where the former dresses in a gray outfit and the latter wears a very nice, red dress. She also heard that some people will be going as Zac Brown Band and a piece of fried chicken, from their hit-song "Chicken Fried."

Finance sophomore Collin Brueck is dressing up as Austin Powers, the fictional spy from the self-titled film series made in the late 20th century. Brueck believes his costume is a little unique, and he doesn’t expect to see many other college students dressed up as Powers.

However, he enjoys it when students are thoughtful about their costumes and appreciates anything that “takes a lot of commitment.”

Every year, Brueck said, he usually tries to go for “something goofy” or “random and fun.” He predicts that students will either be dressed up as something very pop culture oriented or something simpler, like a superhero.

“I’m sure you’ll see a lot of both,” Brueck said. “Pop culture has taken over, and people will try to fit whatever narrative they can, but I’m sure there will also be classics.”

Brueck predicts many college students will dress up as Barbie and Ken, or variations of Barbie like Stereotypical Barbie and Weird Barbie, from this past summer's "Barbie" film.

Neuroscience junior Akarsha Kodali said most costumes are “last minute because it’s just an easier." Kodali said that being a black cat, wearing sports jerseys or dressing up as Disney characters is basic and show up nearly every year.

On the other hand, costumes like Barbie are usually products of pop culture and take more planning, she said. 

“For the people who actually think about their costume in advance and want to get something put together, and have the time to order stuff, I think that pop culture has influenced costumes like that,” Kodali said. 

Kodali said she likes to be unique but doesn’t want to spend too much money on her multiple costumes. This year she is going as a mummy, Katherine Pierce from The Vampire Diaries and The Milky Way.

Because pop culture is so prevalent among college students, Jasinksi said, it might be difficult to dress up as something totally "unique."

“It’s hard to kind of find that balance where you’re not doing what everyone else is doing, but people still know who you are,” Jasinski said.

Like Brueck, Kodali expects a lot of students to dress up as characters from Barbie, as well as Wednesday Addams from the show "Wednesday" and even J. Robert Oppenheimer, or Cillian Murphy, from the movie "Oppenheimer."