Some classmates of mine and I were assigned a project that explored different parts of our school and what we could critique about the experience. A topic that all of us agreed on was dating life at our particular school, an aspect that's not so much worthy of critique but more worthy of exploration. After talking together, we realized that we all had similar observations.
We decided collectively that what complicates the dating scene the most is exposure. In a small school, it's impossible to spend one night with someone and expect not to see them again—chances are you'll see them in the next few days. In a large school, the chances of seeing a specific person are lessened. However, with a small school, the same limited areas on campus are available to everyone, and so everyone walks through the same public areas and right past the same people. The upside to this, however, is that it forces us to think through our actions. If you can't do something without facing consequences with the same people the next day, it's probably not the best idea, The fact that we all live our lives together in the same little community for four years makes it more crucial that we plan out our actions more thoughtfully.
Because we're all in such close proximity to each other at all times, the Tinder game changes completely. Matching with someone from school means, for better or for worse, that you will run into that person. I've heard from many different people that they are afraid to swipe right on people from Emerson because of the heightened chance of seeing them out and about. That situation isn't usually bad but can seem awkward, especially if you swipe right on them by accident.
The other piece of the equation is the fact that everyone knows someone, and that means news travels fast. Gossip isn't told in the same quantity or with the same maliciousness that it was in high school, but it can still spread. Knowing details about the romantic lives of people you've never even spoken with can add an interesting layer to the student body.
A smaller pool of students means also, simply put, that there are fewer options to choose from. The same names always come up when people mention who they are attracted to. The cutest ones always have more than one person pining after them, which can create some awkwardness between different parties.
After all of these factors are considered, the dating scene really isn't so bad at a small school. It's a little more complicated, but love lives already are.
