As my sorority has a date function approaching, girls are already talking about who they are going to take or that they don't know who to take. I randomly selected four girls from different ages at Chapter to interview. I also talked to one of my friends not in greek life.
Interview 1
Who: The first girl I talked to was a freshman who came into college with a boyfriend, but they just broke up because of distance. She isn't ready to take a new boy on our function and is planning on just taking a friend in a different chapter for now.
What: She said even besides finding a date to the function she wants to meet more guys as friends and thinks an app like this will help find her a date but also develop friendships after the fact.
Why: Even though she had a boyfriend, she knows it's been hard to meet boys or make actual connections with them because all of the freshmen are meeting everyone and most of the time people don't even remember each other's names.
Interview 2
Who: The second girl I interviewed was a sophomore who was always asking in our groupchats for advice on who to take, but she recently started talking to someone and now has someone to count on coming to our functions.
What: She said prior to this she struggled with finding dates because the same groups of people hang out with each other and even if she wanted to take one of her guy friends, he probably already got asked by someone else. She felt frustrated by the end of the year and wanted to branch out and have more guy friends in different frats.
Why: Sometimes you get bored being with the same group of people over and over again.
Interview 3
Who: I interviewed a junior who is a chemical engineering major and never goes out. She never plans on going to our functions because she's always busy and if she can she just ends up taking one of her girl friends.
What: She's too focused on school and clubs to think about finding a guy to take on functions and doesn't care that she doesn't meet new guys usually.
Why: She's here to get into med school, not find a boyfriend or date anyone.
Interview 4
Who: I interviewed a senior who has a boyfriend. She said she wouldn't need this app but think it would be useful for her friends who don't have boyfriends and wait to the last minute to find someone.
What: She realizes that in a year her friends will be in the real world and doesn't think they are going to know how to meet new guys because they have gotten so close to their guy friends over the past 4 years.
Why: They won't have the security of being in a place where everyone is the same age in less than a year and they are all worried how the will make connections.
Interview 5
Who: I interviewed a guy friend not in greek life. He doesn't need dates for functions but expressed that it sometimes is hard to meet people outside of clubs and class.
What: Has a set group of friends and doesn't know how to branch out more than he has.
Why: Thinks people in greek life don't need an app because we have socials where we have the opportunity to meet different people and ask someone on a date if we want to.
Inside the Boundary Outside the Boundary
People who need dates People who already have someone to take or don't care
Connections Finding a date
Hard to branch out We can ask people in person or just ask friends
Obviously, not everyone is going to need this app for various reasons. I think the deeper reason beside finding dates is wanting to experience new people and make new connections.
Thank you Courtney, I enjoyed reading your post. I find it really fascinating how many different perspectives college students have on date functions. It seemed that a lot of people you interviewed had reasons not to take a random person. Looking at it from that perspective, perhaps some people are intimidated at the idea of taking a random person which is why some people do not take new people on date functions.
ReplyDeleteYou provide an interesting dynamic to college dating that I haven't paid attention to. This is people taking advantage of being forced into a confined space with one another at its finest. It seems like you learned that, due to how fraternities and charters scale, planned interaction with others is key. Stephen made a good point as well. Planning with strangers isn't always the most comfortable thing to do. Your app should do as much as it can to mitigate that fear.
ReplyDelete