Early Concept Art of the college's principal.
- According to Dan Scanlon, the movie initially opened with Mike's parents dropping him off at the university on his first day there, and Billy Crystal voiced his whole family! It was cut from the film due to Scanlon wanting to remove parental guidance from Mike's college life.
- Other early drafts included Mike and Sulley in grade school together (to respect the "fourth-grade" quote in Monsters Inc.) It reached storyboards process
. Then Pete Docter advised Scanlon to disregard the quote to stick to the focus of the University. - The characters Celia, Fungus, and Waternoose (recast as Kelsey Grammer) were originally going to make appearances. Grammer's cameo was cut from the film; Waternoose and Celia appear only in photographs.
- Not surprisingly, the filmmakers tried to make it Sulley's story until they saw the story potential in Mike's struggles. Some concepts they experimented with was that Sulley initially wanted to be a dentist and suffered a case of Disappeared Dad. These scenes would have probably explored Sulley's relationship with the unseen Bill Sullivan.
- Originally, Monsters University was going to be a sequel to Monsters Inc. and was called Monsters, Inc. 2: Lost in Scaradise, which was created by Circle 7. It would've been about Mike & Sulley dropping by Boo's room to wish her a happy birthday, only to discover that somebody different is sleeping in Boo's room. It seems that Boo and her family have moved since Mike and Sulley last visited her. Sulley is so determined to see Boo again that he and Mike venture out into the human world to find her. Once Mike and Sulley cross over into the human world, they then aren't allowed to return to Monstropolis until they reunite with Boo. It would also include an older Boo trying to hide Mike and Sulley from other people.
- The "Art of Monsters University" book indicated there was a Bar Fight sequence involving an altercation between Mike and Johnny and the ensuing fight that did not make it in.
- Claire Wheeler was originally designed as an Eta Hiss Hiss girl until the animators thought placing a goth character on the top of the Greek Life Council would be fun. Even earlier drafts had her as a bubbly drama student.
- Sully and Mike were originally redirected to Drama class after their Scare School expulsion. Interestingly, Claire's and Terri's personalities seemed switched around. Also, these scenes would have offered a glimpse into the history of Scream energy.
- An alternative opening sequence showed how the monsters acquired info about the human world.
- The Oozmas were originally humiliated at a Movie Night.
- Hardscrabble was originally supposed to be male and yelled a lot until Scanlon decided to feature a great female Scarer that was more sophisticated and intimidating.
- Old designs of Mike had him wear braces until Scanlon realized he would have to avoid the argument that "Mike would be scarier without braces" so Mike was redesigned with a retainer he could remove.
- One ending they experimented with was after Mike's and Sulley's expulsion, Waternoose drives up in a limo, hearing about Mike's and Sulley's brief stint in the Human World, and offers them jobs. The idea was unsurprisingly rejected as it would negate the whole theme of hard work.
- Don Carlton originally had fire-breathing abilities which he kept under control with pills. Eventually, he would abandon the pills to make use of his fire-breathing.
- Earlier storyboards seem to indicate that Terri enjoyed experimenting with personas, including becoming a goth, much to Terry's annoyance.
- The movie originally featured a scene where Mike and Sully meet in elementary school when Sully is picked for scare ball instead of Mike.
