3 Tips for Online Dating in College

By Danielle Wirsansky on July 9, 2018

Even though college can be difficult, one of the best parts about it is all the new people you get to meet. Most of us have lived in the same place our whole lives, going to school with the same folks. But college opens up so many new avenues to meet new people. College is also a hotbed for dating. And with the advent of online dating, it has become possible to meet even more people than ever could have been imagined before.

So if you are new to online dating while in college, or have tried your hand and not had any luck in securing the kind of relationship and experience you were looking for, read on for some tips for online dating while in college!

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Choose the Right Platform

Probably one of the most important choices you have to make (right at the start) to make your online dating experience as positive as possible is which platform to use. There are so many different online dating platforms that it can be incredibly overwhelming to choose. How do you pick? How do you know which one is right for you?

The best way to choose the right online dating platform for you is to pick out what elements of the dating experience are most important to you. Is religion an incredibly important factor for you when choosing a potential partner? Then you can choose platforms that cater to and connect people who are also looking for that same religiously-minded partner, such as JDate or Christian Mingle.

Are you looking specifically for a hookup or do you want a longer, more serious relationship? For the former, Grindr might be your best choice while for the latter, it might be Match. Are you afraid of getting catfished or have been catfished before? Then Zoosk might be the right choice for you as it makes each user verify their account by including a video selfie to prove that they are who they say they are.

If you are female-identifying and hate being constantly hit up by people you are not particularly interested in, you could try Bumble, which allows the women to be the only ones who can initiate conversations between users of the platform. Maybe you are even a little bit jaded by the whole online dating thing—well, they have an app for that! You could always try Hater, which is a dating app that matches you with people based on your mutual dislikes.

As you can see there hundreds upon thousands of different online dating platforms to choose from. In order to have the best experience, you need to narrow it down and find one that bests caters to what you are looking for and what you hope to get out of a relationship.

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Make Balanced Choices

The next most difficult decision to make when online dating, is how do you choose who you are interested in? In order to choose, you have to know what you are looking for. And it is all great to say that you want tall, dark, and handsome but the qualities you are looking for should be varied. And by varied, I mean that you should make decisions not only on how someone looks but also based on their interests and values. Sure, you might connect with someone who you find really attractive, but then you might find out that they are looking for a very different relationship than you are or that you have nothing in common and thus nothing to talk about.

You also have to approach it from the other direction. You might find someone who wants the same kind of relationship as you and that you have much in common with—but if you are not attracted to them, the relationship can only go so far, and might not be the best, final choice for you. You should give people chances, within reason, but you also need to be able to walk away when you know that a person is not right for you.

Follow Your Gut

Following in this vein, you must also follow your gut. If this person seems too good to be true, then they might be. Catfishing is a huge phenomenon in online dating and you should make yourself aware of the hallmarks of a catfish to avoid that. If you feel like someone is lying to you about something, they often are. If you feel like someone is not the right fit for you, then they probably are not. And if you feel unsafe in a dating situation or talking to someone, then you most likely are and you should not try to brush your feelings away.

Stay safe, trust your instincts, and good luck finding the partner of your dreams!

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