Ah, college. It’s a time for learning, job searching, and—if you’re like the average college dude—practicing your game.
And thanks to the new Campus Trends study from dating app Clover, the shallow dudes among us can toss those copies of the Princeton Review and finally rank schools by a different criterion: the likeliness of hooking up.
Here’s how Clover works: Billed as “the fastest way to meet new people on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch,” Clover strives to be a personality-based dating service (think Match.com) and first-date arranger. Users can choose whether they want to make new friends, find a hookup, or even lock in a long-term relationship. (It’s free to download, but the Premium Service costs about $10-$20, depending on the duration of your subscription.)
We asked Clover CEO Isaac Raichyk to shed some light on the company’s survey by explaining the inner workings of the digital-age matchmaker. Here’s what they found—from hotbeds of kinky action to the campuses teeming with, well, straight-up hot people.
It’s the eternal question facing college kids (you know, aside from which cheap beer to buy and which classes are easiest).
“The Hookup and Love category [is] based on what users choose as their intention,” says Raichyk. Clover users can define whether they’re looking for a one-night stand or The One To Stand By Forever—and these campuses have the highest concentrations at the end of the spectrum.
The Best Campuses to Hit It and Quit It: 1. James Madison University 2. University at Buffalo 3. University of Kansas 4. University of Oregon 5. University of Maryland 6. Appalachian State University 7. Radford University 8. Boston University 9. Colorado State University 10. Vanderbilt University
The Best Campus to Search for Love: 1. Western Kentucky University 2. Florida State University 3. Columbia University 4. Central Michigan University 5. Bowling Green State University 6. Eastern Kentucky University 7. Virginia Commonwealth University 8. Harvard University 9. University of California (UCLA) 10. Temple University
College is about exploration, right? So why limit that exploration to the classroom when you can expand your horizons from, say, your off-campus apartment? (We’re not here to judge.)
“The Kinky and Reserved categories are based on answers users provided to users’ ‘20 Questions,’” Raichyk says, referring to the simple questions users answer when they download the app. Oh, and you can forget any stereotypes you might have about certain states—looking at you, Texas State and Texas Tech.
Most Kinky: 1. University of Georgia 2. Iowa State University 3. Texas State University 4. Penn State University 5. Northwestern University 6. Cornell University 7. University of Southern California 8. Illinois State University 9. University of Colorado Boulder 10. Michigan State University
Most Reserved: 1. University of Mississippi 2. Northern Kentucky University 3. University of Minnesota 4. Fordham University 5. Wesleyan University 6. Florida Gulf Coast University 7. Texas Tech University 8. University of Tennessee 9. Purdue University 10. University of Texas
Sure, romantic compatibility is great. And yeah, it’s probably a good thing to have similar relationship goals. But at the end of the day, some people get a thumbs-up and the other ones go home.
“The Most Liked and Most Disliked are based on the total likes and dislikes users receive from other users,” Raichyk says. “Users are presented with potential matches nearby and can dislike and/or like other users.”
So with Clover, the like/dislike spectrum is a good measure of how desirable people are—weighted by how choosy everyone thinks they can be. So either Arizona State is absurdly hot (likely), pretty easygoing (possible), or both.
Most Disliked: 1. Virginia Tech 2. University of Florida 3. Kent State University 4. Indiana University 5. University of Michigan 6. Auburn University 7. University of Alabama 8. Northern Arizona University 9. University of Texas 10. Syracuse University
Most Liked: 1. Arizona State University 2. University of Central Florida 3. University of South Florida 4. New York University 5. Ohio State University 6. Indiana University 7. Hofstra University 8. California State University 9. University of Cincinnati 10. University of Delaware
