College Students Experience Successful and Failed Tinder Dates

Tinder is a widely used dating app among college students. People use it for different reasons such as making friends, looking for a soulmate, hooking up, or out of pure boredom.

“My intention for making a Tinder account was just as a joke, but also to talk to new people,” said Lesley Wells-Mleczko, freshman at the University of Nevada, Reno. “I also wanted someone to buy me food.”

After multiple matches and small talk, Lesley finally was asked out on a date.

“He texted me first,” Wells-Mleczko explained. “My bio used to say ‘I’m bored lol.’ He texted me saying, ‘Are you as bored as I am.’ I said ‘Well that depends how bored are you lmao.’”

The next night was their first date. Lesley took precautions and shared her location with some friends and also updated them on what they were doing.

“He picked me up and we went to DQ,” said Wells-Mleczko. “He bought me a blizzard and took me to a view spot to eat them. After that, he texted me where his car meets are at and took me to my first car meet in Reno! Then we went to get tacos, but they were closed, so instead we walked around the Truckee River in downtown. It was a very eventful night.”

The first date went well, but Lesley didn’t see a future with him.

“I didn’t catch any feelings, even though he was cute,” Wells-Mleczko evaluated. “He was really cool and was pretty much the guy version of me, but I wasn’t looking for anything. After we hung out, we still talked for like a month or so. We went roller skating. Now we don’t talk anymore.”

Tinder doesn’t always have that good of dates come out of it though. Ashleigh Mabry, freshman at Nevada State College, made a Tinder account to meet new people and look for a relationship.

“We had some of the same interests so I decided to swipe and he messaged me first,” said Mabry. “We talked on Tinder for almost two weeks before we met.”

It was a Friday night when he asked her on their first date.

“The plan was to go eat and then go see a movie, this was before COVID,” Mabry explained. “He picked me up because I didn’t have my license at the time.”

Ashleigh was having a good time until the actual conversation started at dinner. Her thought of looking for a relationship changed quickly.

“His personality was alright,” Mabry established. “He liked to talk about himself a lot though. Then he asked me questions, but would add his opinion into how I answered the questions. He tried to rush things, and right after the date he started to talk about moving in together and getting married and stuff. I thought absolutely not. That’s not what I was planning for that fast.”

The Tinder date was not a good experience for Ashleigh because she cut him off two days after the date.

According to the October 2017 statistic from Digital Market Ramblings, there are 1.5 million dates per week on Tinder. Nancy Vazquez, University of Nevada, Reno student, had a date that turned out very well.

“Honestly, I wasn’t looking for a relationship at first,” said Vazquez. “I just wanted to check out the app and meet some new people.”

After making conversation with multiple matches, she wasn’t getting the same energy or seriousness she was looking for. Nancy decided to stop talking to them and focus on one who mattered most to her.

“We talked on Tinder for like a week and then I wanted to talk somewhere else,” Vazquez explained. “I shut my Tinder down, so did he, and we talked on iMessage. He seemed genuine and not too pushy to meet.”

After talking for three months, they went on their first date.

“This was early 2020 before everything started shutting down because of COVID,” Vazquez informed. “I was cautious with COVID and just meeting people online. Our first date was hard to plan what to do. We ended up going for a walk at Rancho San Rafael Park and got some snacks afterwards.”

Nancy and her Tinder date became a couple and have been together for a year now.

Photo Courtesy of Nancy Vazquez.

Nancy and her boyfriend she met off of Tinder.