Dating is not an exact science because love isn’t something that can be forced. It happens where it is willed. One of the best times to date is while in college. Everyone essentially gets to hit the reset button and grow into whoever they so choose. Everyone comes to college, for the most part, with new people, new independence and a new environment.
College is the time when people grow and learn about themselves as individuals, and the best way to discover more about yourself is when in a relationship.
I have met a lot of couples who will attest to the fact that they learned most about themselves when seriously dating and in marriage. There is a mirror quality, revealing different depths to ourselves.
A relationship should push you to be better, grow your interests, open you up to new experiences and opinions and be there to support you in times of stress or loneliness. CollegeBasics in “Dating Tips: Pros and Cons of Dating in College,” states that statistics show people who are dating in college are less likely to suffer from depression and loneliness. They also state that a partner can help with financial aid when transitioning into adulthood.
Most college students aren’t in a relationship or married or haven’t been previously married. This means there’s a high percentage of single people on a college campus. This number greatly decreases when looking at a dating pool in your late 20s or early 30s.
Match.com conducted a 2019 survey of more than 5,000 single men and women across the U.S. The study revealed the average age a woman finds her spouse is 25, and for a male, it’s 28. Half of these people find their spouse within their 20s.
The average length of a relationship prior to engagement in the U.S., according to the study, is 4.9 years, and the average length of engagement is between 12–18 months. With this said, if we calculate the average time women will likely meet their spouses, it would be around 19, and men will meet their spouses around 22.
People meet their spouses around the time most people are in college. If students wait to date until after college, their dating pool will only get smaller and smaller.
In college, people tend to have little relational baggage going into any dating relationship. When dating in your late 20s and into your 30s, the probability of a current marriage, previous divorce, and/or kids is much higher. When dating without these factors, it puts much less strain on a relationship.
Being in college also gives a safety factor to dating. When dating people from your school, it is easy to know who they are based on friends, extracurriculars, faculty and seeing them around campus.
When meeting people online, through work or out in public, it is much harder to see who a person is based on their own testimony of themselves, which can be unreliable. It’s easier to know if someone is an ax murder when they go to school with you versus based off of their bio for their self-setup Tinder profile.
The best time to date is in college because people become independent and need emotional and financial aid. Additionally, people are single and, well, ready to mingle, so say hey to that cutie in your class. The odds are in your favor.
Written By: Zoey Zoerner – Junior Applied Health Science Major
Grace Gaines