It’s no secret that women mature more quickly than men, a reason why girls are usually attracted to that badass high school sophomore in the eighth grade. Enter our university years. College is a big step in a guy’s life, and maybe it’s just the time for him to figure himself out, mature and evolve. But does being in a relationship hinder that? There are definitely a few reasons why staying single in college is the best route to take, so fellas, listen up.
College is first and foremost an academic environment that requires an immense amount of selfishness to survive. Ken Russo, a senior majoring in psychology, finds that having a girlfriend can be detrimental to a guy’s academic performance.
“College is about schoolwork and if you have a girlfriend you spend a lot of time with them and worrying about them,” Russo said. “You’re not just focused on your schoolwork; you’re focused on what your girlfriend is doing and what she did last night.”
Thinking about a girlfriend can be disruptive to your academic performance, but balancing time to speak to her or hang out with her and doing work means acquiring decent time management skills. And who has time for that?
“When I had a girlfriend freshman year I spent all night iChatting with her, which resulted in an F in Calculus,” Russo said.
Secondly, college is a hub for some really unusual social experiences that can only be hindered by a serious commitment to a significant other.
“Alcohol and parties make life very interesting,” said Steven Iuliucci, a junior majoring in management information systems.
Jeremy, a senior majoring in biology, who preferred not to share his last name, explained the general social objective of college students more blatantly.
“The weekend pursuit in college is really based on who you’re going to have sex with, and if it’s not sex, then who’s going to blow you,” he said.
Though hooking up with random girls can get old for some people, college presents a unique opportunity for guys to get plenty of sexual experiences under their belt. There are many girls who are willing and able, so why limit yourself to one who may not give you any blowjobs? The ideal way to go about “the weekend pursuit,” hopefully without contracting any STIs, is to alternate among a few different hook-up buddies. That way, guys and girls can actually learn a thing or two about each others’ bodies, so one day they can be the grad students and professors that undergrad girls should be dating.
Sexuality aside, college is a great place for meeting people who may actually be intellectually stimulating. Well, maybe. Casey Lloyd, a senior majoring in psychology, thinks that being in a relationship can affect the relationships people develop with other people.
“Trust and jealousy are probably the two biggest issues,” Lloyd said. “You never want to put yourself in a situation where that line can be crossed and the other person in the relationship could think that that line is much closer than you do.”
Trust and jealousy are two of the stickiest emotions to get involved with, and tend to surface most prominently among people in serious relationships. Guys who are already extremely clueless about girls should not subject themselves to those kinds of emotions. It can get messy and ugly and, once again, affect your academic performance.
Lastly, independence is the most sought-after, intangible grace when a boy is becoming a man. For many guys, college is the first time they have had to grapple with the notion of independence.
Russo explained that guys have a greater fear of losing their independence when they are in college than at any other point in their lives.
A relationship has the implication of dependency. As fun as blindly coaxing guys into being subjected to their greatest fear or playing the role of their mother may sound, impeding a guy’s independence is actually the worst thing a girlfriend could possibly do. Allowing them to be slightly standoffish in their youth will only make them more appreciative and eligible bachelors in the future.