Trending News: Does Having A Degree Really Do Anything For Your Dating Life?
Graduating from college — not just going — improves your chances of scoring a date, according to data from our collaboration with dating site Zoosk.
So, you've spent tens of thousands of dollars on a degree, are drowning in mountains of debt and can't get yourself a job. Well, hold your head high because there's a good use for that piece of paper.
We teamed up with dating site Zoosk to find out how much your education impacts your dating life — and the results look pretty good if you went to college, just so long as you actually graduated.
Dating profiles with the word "college" in it were found to be 64% more likely to get replies than the average user. The runner-up education-related keyword was "school," which gets 55% more replies than average. Think you're too smart for school and are "self-taught?" Welp, if you're like that then you only get replied to 8% more than the average. Eat your heart out Richard Branson (he famously didn't go to college).
But this isn't to say you should go on do a master's, doctorate or become a prof if your plan is to get a date (it's possible, you never know?). People with a bachelor's degree get 17% more replies than those with only a high school diploma while people with an advanced degree get significantly less, 10% more than average.
Overall, those with a bachelor's degree had the highest average "desirability score," followed by advanced degrees. Those were followed by people with a high school diploma and then "no degree/other." But here's the result that I personally think is the most shocking part of these numbers: the least desirable users put "some college." So basically, if you went to college, thought it was lame and a waste of money (it arguably is in some cases if you don't know what you're doing), so you left. Then you're not going to do too well in the dating world. Rough.
AskMen also peeked into Zoosk users' chats and found what education-related words elicited the most replies. Slotting the words "graduation," "finals," "course," "class," and "teacher" somewhere in your messages is a great tactic for single guys to use. But don't say anything about "essay," "homework," or "study." My guess is that using those words will either remind the person with whom you're chatting that they have work to do and are wasting their time talking to you. Or, they don't want to hear you complaining. Either way, focusing on the accomplishment of becoming a certified smart person in society is something you should definitely mention while you're chatting.
Should school guidance counselors start using this to motivate kids to get a degree?
Zoosk's data revealed that the end of summer, a.k.a. right now, is one of the best time of the year for online dating.