DateMySchool fills void for college students interested in online dating

Photo By Kim De Guzman/The Chameleon. DateMySchool is an online dating site exclusively for college students. The site prides itself on its safety and exclusivity features.

By Kim De Guzman
Editor-in-Chief

Some people question why college students would use an online dating website in the first place.

We could meet people at bars or shopping on Michigan Avenue, for instance. Or a Friday night party.

However, for students who devote a lot of time to studying, participate in extracurricular activities or work outside of attending classes, finding time to socialize may be a difficult thing to do.

DateMySchool.com (or DMS) changes the game by filling a void for college students interested in online dating.

The dating site was founded by Columbia University MBA classmates, Balazs Alexa and Jean Meyer.

DMS was born when a female nursing student complained that her academic department was 90 percent female.

Alexa and Meyer were students in the business school, which was 80 percent male.

They then realized that students from different departments and campuses wanted to meet each other.

There was no option for that, so they conceived the notion of DateMySchool.

Students don’t have to be looking for a relationship to use DMS.

“Sign up to get an adventure” or “Sign up to get a boyfriend/girlfriend” are a few of the scrolling taglines written across the top of the DateMySchool website.

The website has previously been featured in the New York Times, CNN, NBC, and TimeOut.

According to Melanie Wallner, DateMySchool’s Director of Public Relations, the exclusive college student dating site is unlike any other social platform because it is a “reversed social network,” it has “advanced privacy, instant gratification, and zero embarrassment.”

DMS has an exclusivity and safety feature. Only select schools are on the website.

Access to DateMySchool is limited to students and alumni with active university email accounts. One email equals one person.

Members can also choose to include or exclude particular schools or departments in their privacy settings.

There is also anonymity involved. DMS site members are not searchable on Google and they can choose to stay anonymous while using it.

The dating site operates at over 1,000 4-year colleges and universities worldwide. It boasts over 125,000 members. 90 percent of those members are students (45 percent undergrads and 45 percent grads), and 10 percent are alumni.

Additionally, hundreds of students join every day and DMS has plans to expand internationally soon.

In order for students to have a successful experience on DateMySchool, Wallner advises students to do the following: “upload a minimum of three photos, post a status on the feed, and feel empowered to initiate conversation via a private message and/or IM.”

Wallner explains that DMS is “responsible for over 50% of the dates at schools like Columbia University, where we have a major presence.”

“Plus,” she adds, “many of our users land dates within 30 minutes on DMS.”

As I’ve stated before, I usually would not spend time on a website such as DMS.

But after my experience with OkCupid a couple of weeks ago, and after learning the fact that Wallner herself met her current boyfriend through DateMySchool, I ventured to the website personally to see what all the hype was about.

My network currently consists of students from different campuses in Chicago, including Loyola, Columbia College, Northwestern, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), University of Chicago, and DePaul.

I can also set an age range filter, a geographic area filter, along with a college/university filter in order to control who is able to look at my profile.

It’s a pretty interesting experience so far.

I haven’t used it long enough to garner a date or a new study buddy, but I have already spoken to students from Loyola and Columbia College.

And some of these people…ooohhh…mama.

Only time (and more time spent on the website) will tell, however. If you excuse me, I’ve got a date to find.

Kim De Guzman is the editor-in-chief. She can be reached at editorinchief@luchameleon.com. She’s really glad you can’t google her DateMySchool profile.