Having a boyfriend in college is definitely more fun than being single

During my freshman year when I arrived at college, there was an infamous crush that every girl in my dorm hallway seemed to share for our RA. Between my friends flirting with him and my roommates swooning over him, everyone seemed to be head over heels for him. While I thought he was attractive and a sweetheart, I didn’t find myself doing any of the ridiculous things my fellow dorm mates tried to do to get his attention.

I’ve been in a committed relationship since before I started college and I’ve had multiple people ask me: “Why would you do that to yourself? College is a time to explore and be yourself!” My only response to those who ask is: “If I’m dating the right person, why wouldn’t I be able to explore and be myself?”

Senior Prom 2015

Truthfully, I believe there’s a huge stigma placed against people in relationships in college. If you’re dating the right person, there should be nothing stepping between you, your college experiences, and your significant other. Although the hook-up scene at any university is going to be common with many students, that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone, and that certainly doesn’t mean that everyone has to partake just because it’s the popular thing to do. My choices are my own and I would much rather be in a committed relationship than have a one night stand with someone I would probably never see again.

Just because I’m not single doesn’t mean I can’t do anything a single person does – like go to a house party or the club just to dance by myself or with my friends. At first I thought it was going to be weird for me to go out with my friends, since almost all of them are single and would joke about finding boys to dance with. As time went on, I realized that I love dancing by myself. There’s nothing better than vibing to the music by yourself and telling guys who try to dance with you that you’re dancing alone so they should leave you the hell alone.

If anything, dating someone in college is definitely more fun than being single. There is so much happening in a college town, which means there is always someone to come with you to the exciting events and festivals. Since we go to different schools, but we still live in Philadelphia together, we have the opportunity to explore both of our sides of the city instead of just one. He goes to Drexel University, which is in West Philadelphia, and I go to Temple University, which is in North Philadelphia. Center City is between us, which means we spend a copious amount of time adventuring through the city together.

The only con to dating someone in college, in my opinion, is the difficult task of balancing time spent with friends and boyfriend. During the first few months of school starting, I found it very difficult to give him the attention he deserved because college was so time-consuming and my classes were so demanding. As I became more adjusted, I realized that I needed to equally divide my time spent with everyone I cared about, as well as devote a chunk of spare time towards studying and homework. Since my freshman year is over, I can confidently say that by the end of Spring semester, I was evenly distributing time between all of my commitments.

Even though it’s definitely more difficult to be in a committed relationship than not, I wouldn’t change my decision because it’s definitely broadened my horizons and taught me things, like time management, that I wouldn’t have learned otherwise. While some people think dating is a drag, I believe that it’s more exciting (and comforting) than struggling through college alone.