Swipe left on Tinder U

Almost every college student is aware of Tinder, the most popular dating app. While there are many dating apps out there, Tinder continues to dominate the field. This is especially true for college students.

Recently, Tinder released a new app feature called ‘Tinder U’. Tinder claims it will “increase the number of students you see at your school and nearby.”

This was a smart move on Tinder’s part considering that over a third of Tinder users are between the ages of 18 to 24. To sign up for Tinder U all you have to do is provide your school email address and then verify it through that same email.

So far, I have been very disappointed with the new feature. The app tried to appeal to their biggest demographic, but they came out short. While profiles of students at Chico State and Butte College do show up, profiles from other schools show up just as much. These schools include, but are not limited to, Sonoma State, Cal Poly, University of San Diego, University of Nevada-Reno, University of Connecticut, Boston College, Tufts University and Harvard University.

Yes, you read that right – Harvard University. A school that is over 3,000 miles away from Chico. About half of the Tinder U profiles that showed up were at least a five-hour drive if not more from Chico. With homework, social lives and trying to get at least six hours of sleep a night, who has time for that? Let alone wants to do that.

At first, I thought the settings had to be fixed to limit the distance between me and these out of state profiles, but I was wrong. I soon found out that Tinder will let you set a maximum distance for regular profiles, but not Tinder U profiles. So unless you’re willing to drive for hours or get on a plane to go meet a hookup, don’t use the new feature.

Although, if you’re looking for a long distance relationship, then it may be worth your time. But who am I kidding? No one wants a long distance relationship, especially college students. Not when there are hundreds of cute strangers that you pass by every day on your way to class or see at parties.

The fact of the matter is, if you set your age range from 18 to 23 you will mostly get profiles of college students. Especially since we live in a ‘college town’, almost all of the potential matches that show up on your feed will be fellow students.

Tinder U is a great idea, but it needs a lot of improvement. If the app would let you set a maximum distance while still using the Tinder U feature or let you select students from certain schools only, I would be willing to give it another shot. Until then, don’t waste any more of your time by getting Tinder U and have your feed flooded by out of state profiles.

Brooke Martin can be reached at [email protected] or @bmartin471 on Twitter.