From Where We Are

Cuffing, Tinder, and Meet Cutes: How USC is dating

It’s getting cold and Trojans are looking for ways to stay warm... together, of course.

The icon for the Tinder dating app, a popular app for college students to meet potential love interests amidst the pandemic. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison)

Dating in 2021 is more accessible than ever with dozens of dating apps and places to meet people, especially on college campuses. Victoria Hunt took to USC’s campus to ask students how they navigate the dating world.

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The sun is setting earlier, and the temperatures are dropping in LA, which means that cuffing season is in full swing around USC. With that comes the hunt for the perfect big or little spoon, but where are trojans turning during this time of need? For some dating apps, others bars, and even an instagram page for anonymously calling out your campus crush.

But dating apps can be sketchy and a long-shot. Luckily for Caitlin Bowen, a grad student in the public relations and advertising program, she found her now-boyfriend all thanks to Hinge.

One of my prompts I have is that I really like 90 day fiance, he liked my photo and wrote that he was a huge fan of big Ed. He told me that he would love to take me on a tour and that was our first date. It’s been about a month and a half. It’s cool that we are official now. I feel like a lot of times online relationships and ones that started on online relationships move fast.

A heart-warming story, but now that people can go out again, are dating apps on the decline? There is something about meeting new people in person and having that initial spark that a dating app can’t replicate.

An Instagram page created by USC students called ‘USC Missed Connections’ is all about that spark. The page is dedicated to helping students find their campus crushes that they’ve seen and met but never asked out.

We wanted to see how USC students around campus feel about this parallel between the apps and traditional meet-cutes.

Kennedy Bohanna is a senior human biology major and he’s over dating apps. He prefers to meet people the traditional way.

I just feel like dating apps are a lot of ‘hot or not,’ more than like a ‘let’s actually get to meet each other.’

I wanted to know how the experts are deciphering this reality.

So we reached out to Natalie Logan, the communications director at Bumble who sent us some interesting information regarding the app. According to a study they performed, more people than ever are telling their partners what they want and need in a relationship confidently, stemming from dating apps and the intentionality behind being able to choose your partner kind of like a menu item.

How do you prefer to date? Are you old fashioned and enjoy meeting people in person? Or are you all about swiping?