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Sometimes, the prospect of dating in college seems utterly impossible; you’re stuck either in your dorm room or in the library working your tail off until the wee hours of the morning, or you’re so completely exhausted that you sleep straight through the weekend. Yet you are constantly hearing that dating is such a huge part of college life, and thinking to yourself, when?

There are several very different approaches to this classic conundrum: you can become one of those people that skates through college on a 2.0 grade point average, doing just the bare minimum of work to graduate, without honors, obviously. You spend your days and nights partying and meeting new people; you are truly the seasoned party animal. However, you may also just bury yourself in work so deeply that you have no idea that other people are out there having fun like our party animal friend. You rarely see the light of the sun or moon, and you soon become the Phantom of the Library; a mysterious figure who come people claim has never left the building. Or, you can find the middle ground between these two; you do your work as well as you possibly can, without obsessing and being a perfectionist. It’s true that you won’t have mounds of time for socializing, but the weekends will be just open enough to attend some get togethers and actually be a bit sociable.

And then we come to the actual question of dating: dating is a commitment right? Well, yes and no. It depends on the relationship and its level of seriousness. If you’re just going on dates to get a taste of what’s out there, you probably won’t have to forfeit your studies to give your chosen guy or girl all the attention they want. However, there are people that dive right into the very serious, very committed long term relationships right away. In this case, it’s simply a question of balance. If your significant other is also a college student, they most likely also will have limited time. So, you just come to a point of mutual understanding; i.e., we both have work to do, but we want to be with each other, so whenever we can take a break from our studies, that’s when we hang out.

If you approach collegiate relationships with anxiety and stress, you’re completely missing the point of dating. Dating is supposed to be fun, not anxiety-ridden or something that keeps you tossing and turning as you try to fall asleep at night. If you keep dating in perspective, you’ll be able to reap the benefits without experiencing any of the unpleasant side effects. The exciting thing about the college dating world is that it is so diverse, and you get a chance to meet all kinds of people from every background imaginable. Enjoy the freedom and prospects while they last. You don’t have to be on a militaristic super-stealth mission to find “the one;” if it happens, it happens. The more you try to find the perfect, most balanced significant other, the more you will probably be frazzled and feel like a failure. Remember, dating is supposed to be fun!

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