Hmm
I saw this in a university newsletter spam today:
If you’re SINGLE and want a “special” Valentines Day – Join us for a night of Graduate student SPEED DATING. Just in time for Valentine's Day! Come meet fellow single graduate students!
Who: Current single UW graduate students
What: Speed Dating
When: [redacted]
Where: [redacted]
Please RSVP to [redacted] to let us know if you are coming. (The sooner you respond, the better your chance of getting a seat!). If you feel comfortable please also let us know what table type you would like to be assigned to. There will be four tables to choose from: straight, gay, lesbian, and bisexual.
Note: this event is only open to UW graduate students; IDs will be checked at the door.
My initial reaction is "Ha, like that would ever work. Delete.", but on second thought I'm actually considering it, if for no better reason than curiosity. I have never been to one of these kinds of things - anyone have any idea what they are like? The Wikipedia page actually makes it sound somewhat interesting.
Being an engineer I naturally started trying to do a CBA on it, but the usual approaches aren't working too well. Here's what I have so far:
Pros:
- Pool restricted to just girls who are single.
- Potentially lower awkwardness/expectation levels.
- They're graduate students, so at least some level of intelligence-filtering has already been performed.
Cons:
- Potential for embarrassment.
- Speed-dating == speed-rejection? [see: personal phobias]
- Mail does not say whether free food is provided.
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January 16th, 2008 - 02:08
Most people I know who’ve done speed dating end up with a mildly positive impression. You don’t get speed rejected, as you usually submit a list of people you’re interested in to them, and if there are matchups, they let you know. Even my friends who had no matchups said they were glad they did it, just for the practice of approaching people and having quick conversations 🙂
January 16th, 2008 - 11:28
Hmm yeah that is a good point. Even if it doesn’t work out, the ‘practice’ might be useful.
January 16th, 2008 - 13:25
sounds like its a good life experience regardless. Maybe you can have a 40 year old virgin like time.
January 17th, 2008 - 02:18
lol that is what I am afraid of
January 17th, 2008 - 10:15
It sounds interesting…and really, what have you got to lose?
I will say, don’t assume that just because someone is in grad school, that they’re intelligent. Or if a person is intelligent, that this person will make a good date/future love interest.
I dated (long term) a very educated man who was in Mensa. Won’t bore you with the details, but he definitely had a superiority thing going on that was a huge turn off in the end. I’ve also dated and been friends with many others who fall into the intelligent/near genius/creative wonder category.
What I’ve learned? Find someone who has the same interests and values that you have who you can have FUN with. Do you smile when that person is around? Do you look forward to being together? Does this person understand you and even if the answer is no, does she try or at least care?
When you’re speed dating, look for that energy…that smile…some enthusiasm. Insanely smart only goes so far.
🙂
January 17th, 2008 - 13:51
Good job on the double equal sign.
January 17th, 2008 - 14:46
you are a nerd simon lol
January 17th, 2008 - 15:21
That was on purpose – equality, not assignment!
January 18th, 2008 - 01:52
Regarding intelligence – that is a good point that being intelligent doesn’t imply that somebody would be a good match. I totally agree.
I meant more that there probably wouldn’t be anybody there that was totally dumb and couldn’t carry on an intelligent conversation, which is more important to me than specifically being super-smart.
January 18th, 2008 - 11:02
So…are you signing up, or what?
January 18th, 2008 - 22:19
Yeah so I RSVP’d.. we’ll see how it goes.
January 18th, 2008 - 23:28
Just do it!
January 22nd, 2008 - 21:08
RSVP’d! Giddy up buddy. I think it’ll be an awesome experience and you’ll end up having a lot of fun. Good luck and report back on how it went. Maybe it’ll give some other people a little nudge in the right direction.