6 Reasons I’m Glad I Never Had a College Boyfriend
During my senior year, a family member jokingly asked whether I was a lesbian.
I hadn’t had a boyfriend for 2.5 years — my high school boyfriend — and unlike the happy couples strolling through campus hand-in-hand, my romantic history was nothing to phone home about.. In reality, I’d had flings but nothing stable, and this worried me when my commencement ceremony rolled around. I’d been told it’s extremely hard to meet new people after graduation (biggest lie ever), and with almost 30% of married folks meeting in college, I considered myself a lost cause.
Had I missed out on the great American college experience by never falling in love during my university years? Well, no, and not enjoying every aspect of higher education is okay and doesn’t a failure make. It actually reminds me of fellow Giggler Anna Swenson’s column on never going to prom. Now we have great boyfriends who were absolutely worth years upon years of letdowns. Here are some benefits to never having a significant other in college.
6. More time with friends.
At 25, my social life is mellow, but in college, I was always out and about. I never had to worry about staying in or blowing off my buddies to be with a guy. I’m still close with a lot of these girls and am so glad they got the bulk of my non-working/studying time in school.
5. Not being bound to anyone, or any place, come graduation.
Shortly after obtaining my degree, I moved to Washington, D.C., to pursue a career in online media and I didn’t have to worry about factoring a boyfriend into my post-college plans. I know couples make it through this all the time, but it was nice not having to work my goals and moves around a guy on top of everything else.
4. More freedom all around.
Without someone special in my life, I had the freedom to throw myself into the college paper, volunteer with a community service fraternity, go to office hours every week and thrive in class. College isn’t just good for making friends and professional contacts, but also for exploring different opportunities, of which I took full advantage as a student.
3. Constantly being exposed to new people.
With a different set of classes each semester, college is all about meeting more people than you can keep up with. We’ve established that I never found anyone to love during undergrad, but I got my hopes up every year, and if nothing else, it was liberating to know I could like a new classmate sans guilt if the situation presented itself.
2. Post-grads are at least a little more mature.
Maybe I surrounded myself with cads, but most of the guys I met in college only cared about sleeping around as much as possible before finishing school. While there are definitely some sleazy post-grads out there, men are at least a little more grown up and mature after their college years. I cringe to think about what my life would look like now had I ended up with any of the bros I fell for at UA. Perhaps they changed after graduation, but I had another pool of contenders by then. Though frowned upon, good relationships can come out of the workplace, and there’s always online dating for long-lasting love.
1. Having different experiences and creating new ones together later in life.
Shared memories and experiences are important, but I like viewing the past as the past. I can regale my beau about my adventures at UA and he can talk about his fun times at USC. We share the present and future but aren’t constantly looking back on what used to be.
If you found the love of your life in college — or a person who shaped your love life in a positive way — cheers to you, but waiting a little longer for the right person to come around made me appreciate my relationship that much more.
What are your thoughts on college romances? Share in the comments section.
Featured images via Collider, BlogSpot, Yahoo!, The Jane Dough, WeEatFilms, HelloGiggles and ShutterStock.
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