Haiden Widener, Campus Carrier Sports Editor
Why nearing graduation single is nothing to worry about — Graduation is exactly one month away, and with that comes the fear of the future. Seniors are frantically trying to find jobs, places to live, pets and most importantly (but not really) love.
It feels like people are getting engaged every other day, and everyone is planning their futures around their significant other. But what about the single seniors? The ones who feel like they will be alone forever because they didn’t find love at Berry? Contrary to popular belief, leaving college single is probably for the best, and it’s not as rare as you would think.
A 2014 Gallup study, only 16 percent of people ages 18-29 were married, and 64 percent were single. So while it may seem like everyone at Berry is in a committed relationship, engaged or married, beyond “the bubble” that is not happening.
This also means that leaving the bubble will give you a better chance at finding love, but lets face it, no one really had great chances at finding love within the bubble to begin with.
Berry only has 2,245 students. As of the 2014 census, there were 319 million people in the United States alone — 31.2 million of those people from ages 18-24. So the chances of you finding love here were always pretty slim.
To make them even slimmer, Berry’s student body has historically been majority female. So while being a guy at Berry boosts your chances of finding love, being a woman significantly decreases those chances. Statistically, there are just not enough men within the bubble to meet every woman’s expectations.
While graduation is a scary time, and having someone from Berry by your side might make things more comfortable now, in the long run that might not be the best thing. Most people graduating are 22, young, in their prime, with a lot of things to look forward to. You have no idea where your career could take you, or where you might be at this time next year. Focusing on yourself and your goals for a few years out of college is, in my opinion, the best choice.
Some people get lucky and find the love of their life in high school, others found them right here in the bubble. But if you haven’t found anyone yet and are graduating next month, there is no need to worry, a majority of the world is in the same boat.
But if you still desperately want to find love within the next month, the real world allows you to keep pets in your house, and there are plenty of dogs and cats that need to be loved. The Rome Humane Society is just down the road and always looking for people to adopt.
Remember that either way, being single at graduation is not the end of your love life, but the beginning. Don’t be discouraged because there is a whole world of people outside of the tiny bubble.