Every collegiette has A LOT to say about dating on her campus—mostly about hookup culture, the type of guys around and how hard it is to meet someone. Not all of us can be so lucky as to have a surplus of males in our college’s gender ratio or potential partners who are actively trying to carry us away on a white horse. The truth is that there’s a dating deficit and ladies are being left single AF. For all sexual orientations, these schools boast a sad life for single women, but thankfully, being single doesn’t lessen our girl power. These are the colleges where we just might find the next bachelorette.
10.CONNECTICUT COLLEGE (New London, CT)
With a 61-percent-female population, not only does Conn College have a ton of ladies, but relationships tend to take a back seat to hookup culture. While a surplus of women is a good thing for the female LGBTQ+ community, the dating scene at Conn College is virtually nonexistent. A possible explanation for the dating drought comes from the rumor that men here don't seem to be very, ahem, respectful of the women, and another student mentioned that “Conn guys, on the whole, are not hot, while Conn girls are more attractive than average.”
As a result, the women aren’t really looking to date anyone anyway. These girls are single––and proud of it!
9. SKIDMORE COLLEGE (Saratoga Springs, NY)
Collegiettes, be warned: New York is officially the WORST place for dating. On top of the female surplus, the men here are either focused on their careers, or not looking for anything serious. There’s a huge LGBTQ+ community here, which is a bonus for our queer ladies, but might not be so great for straight ones. Skidmore is only 59 percent female (it actually used to be an all-female college), but that’s a relatively low average compared to other schools on this list. Nonetheless, there are tons of single women here! Skidmore is known as a party school, and you know what that means: hookup culture galore.
“We say the ratio is 60/40, but when you take away all the boys on campus who are in serious relationships or not interested in girls, it starts to feel like 90/10. I like guys and girls, and it still can feel like there's no one on campus to date,” says Gwen, a senior at Skidmore college.
Despite the lack of a well-rounded dating scene, single women still thrive here as #bosses by climbing the career ladder and working to the top of their fields.
8.COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON (Charleston, SC)
Coming in with a 62 percent female population, College of Charleston is pretty famous for its plethora of bachelorettes and men who are really good at playing the field to be with as many women as they possibly can. If dating occurs, it generally happens within the LGBTQ+ community, with guys who go to other schools, or when women dramatically lower their standards. On top of the male deficit, the men in Charleston are apparently charmless, so women don't really want to date the guys there anyway. Students attest to this on popular sites like Niche and College Confidential. Apparently they have their own support group for women who have to settle for subpar boyfriends.
Even The New York Times and Cosmopolitan have recognized that the dating scene here is literally the worst, so we guess it must be true.
7. BENNINGTON COLLEGE (Bennington, VT)
Like most schools on this list, Bennington has a high female population—66 percent. Both students and Cosmo agree that this is the worst college for dating, but students are more focused on other activities and aspects of campus life, so dating isn't a necessity here. Because Bennington is small with just over 700 students, people don't want to date because they don't want things to get messy. Additionally, this college is filled with tight-knit communities, so they don’t need to seek anything closer.
"I've been single since my freshman year, but that doesn't bother me," says Hannah Davidson, a junior at Bennington. "I've got a unique, close group of friends who fill that hole, and I think the same goes for a lot of women at Bennington. It's not all about dating."
The excess of females and the lack of dating are definitely issues, but nobody is really upset about it. Don’t you wish we could all be that relaxed?!
6. RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE (Providence, RI)
Providence is supposedly the second worst dating city in the world for young, college-educated women. It must be true because this college has a 67 percent female population and the single ladies are rampant.
"The good thing about living in Providence in general is that there's seven universities in a small city, so there's always parties and fun events going on where you can meet people. However for when I've been single (I'm dating a guy from my hometown in California) and tried to put myself out there, everyone has been too focused on their studies or just into one night stands," says Serena Sheffer, a senior at Rhode Island. "That doesn't work for me, but I think our singles community is still really fun!"
Luckily the dating deficit has made this college a place where singles thrive! For those looking to remain an eligible bachelorette, we’re sure there’s probably a huge community of fun, successful single women to spend your time with, and we’re totally okay with that!
5. SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE (Bronxville, NY)
While Sarah Lawrence used to be an all-women’s college, it's been coed since 1968, though women still heavily outnumber the men. With a whopping 75 percent female population, women rule this college, and apparently many of them don't even bother with the SLC males—or other females, for that matter.
Women attest that potential partners are pretty much exclusively interested in hookups because, with the plethora of women, they can have so many of them. This is pretty common for the outlier schools with immensely unequal gender ratios. Men are mostly focused on sex and hookups, while the bachelorettes who actually want relationships get left out. We can definitely rate Sarah Lawrence as the most obsessed with hookup culture, while monogamy waits quietly on the sidelines.
4. BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY (Provo, UT)
This private, LDS-affiliated university is known for its ring-by-spring marriages, but while we mostly hear about the successful relationships, there are countless women who are single and HATING how famous their school is for dating because they just can't manage to find a boyfriend.
"When people hear BYU they think about the immediate blossoming relationships, but it's really not that way," says Corinne, a junior at BYU. "When people do date, the couples are so successful, and really a large population does get married out of college. What people don't know is there's an entire unheard group of women who aren't dating and don't have anybody interested in them, which gets annoying by senior year when half your friends are engaged."
While the ratio of men to women is 55:45, the surplus of guys doesn't make dating any easier. A student survey in 2015 showed that very few students are actually dating, and that women would like to be asked out more (duh!). Not to mention things get even harder when you factor in students leaving on long-term missions and being encouraged to exclusively date for marriage.
3. FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (New York City, NY)
Unsurprisingly, FIT is 85 percent female. Not only is there a dearth of men to connect with on campus, but also New York City in general has far too few eligible bachelors, with men barely present in the gender ratio. The fashion industry draws women that are work-oriented and less relationship-oriented (which is totally fine!), but their work ethic combined with few to zero male prospects makes for an extreme dating crisis.
To make matters worse, according to students, the male population at FIT is mostly gay—and if they're not, they're fiercely competitive. This is a hotspot for successful LGBTQ+ relationships, but not so many heterosexual ones. Despite this being a college with some of the U.S.'s most beautiful and well-dressed women, the eligible bachelors are nowhere in sight––and totally missing out. Oh well, more for the ladies!
2. BOSTON UNIVERSITY (Boston, MA)
For the bachelorettes of BU, the female population on campus averages at 62 percent, and 11 percent of men identify as gay. A campus-wide survey by BU Today asked if there were enough romantic prospects, and the general consensus—especially for the girls—was a big fat no.
Because of the official dating deficit, nearly half of the female students agree that their love lives are disappointing. Surprisingly, many of them aren't fans of online dating––could that be why they find it so hard to meet people? Regardless, we support you ladies! Hold out the old-fashioned way, your time will come.
1. BARNARD COLLEGE (New York City, NY)
Barnard is technically an all-women’s college, but the majority of students also take classes at Columbia. However, there’s a weird stigma surrounding Barnard ladies--a lot of people have the impression that Barnard is inferior to Columbia. The combination of being an all-women’s college, the Barnard/Columbia rivalry AND being in Manhattan makes dating pretty hard for these collegiettes. If relationships do occur, they’re often with the guys at Columbia or with each other, but those can be tricky to navigate because of social stigmas.These women are strong and intelligent, and instead of dating they focus on their kick-butt academics.
"We are DEFINITELY a single girl school. I think most people are just too busy for anything serious," says Amy, a junior at Barnard.
Barnard women are wrongly looked down upon for being liberal arts-oriented or not being as smart as girls at Columbia (ugh!) Thankfully Barnard’s president has even spoken on the issue and said that Barnard is a college where “women can feel smart without being unsexy.” We're all about the female pride happening here. Bachelorettes unite!
