in your experience what's the best size school for having an active social and dating life in college?

[Anonymous]

I think 4000 to 9000. Like Vanderbilt, Rice, Duke, Notre Dame, Northwestern. Big enough to have options, small enough to have community. And those students do tend to be pretty relationship oriented. A lot of future marriages are settled these days at the undergrad level. It's a different reality these days. The relationship pressure for under 25 and under 30 is real - for both men and women.

[Anonymous]

There is no "best," but from what I hear from friends w/kids in college, and from my kids' experience, small schools are great for dating and relationships - medium and large are better for hookups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to put too fine a point on it….

If she is hot then she will have no problem dating no matter what college she goes to.

Thank you Mr. Hefner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would consider the ratio of boys to girls in the schools rather than worry about the size of the student body.

If that’s the key criterion, then why not Old Dominion, right there among one of the biggest conglomeration of navy bases in the world?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would consider the ratio of boys to girls in the schools rather than worry about the size of the student body.

Yes.

And a fun school like an SEC school or a Catholic school like Notre Dame, vs a stuffy school like an ivy or most private universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought the MRS degree was a thing of the past. Isn’t college for education

It depends. A lot of guys in college are looking for girlfriends.

[Anonymous]

Ivy/top private size is the best size for dating and also the best way to date on the same smarts level

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would consider the ratio of boys to girls in the schools rather than worry about the size of the student body.

Yes.

And a fun school like an SEC school or a Catholic school like Notre Dame, vs a stuffy school like an ivy or most private universities.

I'll take the ivy or top private. Less drunks, less weed, more focused ambitious students. I met my spouse at one and a large % still meet and marry this way. And, to PPs point, boy-girl ratio is very close at ivies and top privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ok, bare with me for a minute, please. My daughter attends a small, single gender school. She has very good friends and is well liked but i don't think is super extroverted or outgoing around kids she doesn't know and she has very little experience with boys (as friends or dating).
She really wants to go to college and have a strong social life, dating life, etc. She has many apps in and more to come and has been mainly focused on academic fit but I'm wondering about school size and building a community--meeting friends, dating, etc. Is it easier to do so at smaller or larger school? Bowdoin 2K? Wake Forest 5K?, UVA 17K? Michigan 34K? I'm throwing out these as random size examples (she hasn't applied to all) but I'm just curious about what your own experience was or the experience of your kids.

Unless she's "pretty/hot", her social and dating life won't be too big anywhere she goes. But again, she's coming from a small single gender school so any school would make a huge impact on her!

[Anonymous]

Avoid small schools as everyone will know your business and it can be difficult to avoid the repercussions of a bad break-up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Avoid small schools as everyone will know your business and it can be difficult to avoid the repercussions of a bad break-up.

This is so true. I attended a small school and it was miserable when my boyfriend and I broke up. Not only was it awkward just seeing him everywhere, but friends took sides and it was just a mess. I would have given anything to be at a large school after that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no "best," but from what I hear from friends w/kids in college, and from my kids' experience, small schools are great for dating and relationships - medium and large are better for hookups.

I would disagree. Small schools can be disastrous for relationships. You have one chance, and that's it. 19 year olds need more space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the MRS degree was a thing of the past. Isn’t college for education

It’s making a comeback.
Turns out the millennial experience of let’s all focus on our careers and sleep around in our 20s was good for some, but left a lot of mid-30s gals reevaluating the choice and without a ton of options to meet matches outside of hookup-culture apps.

Then I suggest she attends a university based on male to female ratio. Good lord …

Always be able to support yourself. That’s what my parents told me in my childhood. So glad I had a career and my own retirement and not living back in the 50s.

The man is not the plan.

This is a useless comment. You don't abandon your studies/ambitions at college because you're dating. Young people would be wise to lock in a mate in college or graduate school. There are a lot of lonely 30-somethings out there. What's worse, is they are contending with layoffs for the first time, so have neither a family/partner or a career.