Yes, I will find my future Cornell husband through answering the questions “biggest niche Cornell red flag?” and “favorite romance trope?” Wow, I sure hope my significant other also adores a “step-sibling” romance!
Perfect Match, Cornell’s matchmaking survey, is released every Valentine’s Day season, for hopeful singles to find their future significant other on campus. Using a “machine learning algorithm,” the survey sorts through every respondent’s answers and “scores compatibility” based on “participants who satisfy your main criteria,” generating optimal matches. This year, matches will be released on Feb. 12, when each participant will receive four to seven matches, which are supposed to be, as the name suggests, your Cornell “perfect match.”
As a seasoned professional in being single, I decided to venture down the Perfect Match rabbit hole for the second year in a row. In theory, Perfect Match would be amazing. As a busy Cornell student, I don’t have the time or energy to meet new people and entertain things like a ‘talking stage’ or ‘situationship,’ so Perfect Match would be the perfect solution to streamline the ‘finding a significant other process.’ Right?
Freshman year Sanika would be gravely mistaken when she was left with seven Perfect Matches, all of whom were from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (I am in ILR) or in the 18 to 20 age range. While I’m glad they got my major and age criteria correct, I was left with matches that had nothing in common with me, other than the fact that they were all in my Sociology of Work lecture. My friends who took it with me had similar experiences. Students were paired with other students in their college.
I decided to participate again this year, not only because I’m still single, but in the hopes that the survey would be changed. But after taking the questionnaire, I was left dumbfounded. Question after question, I was left thinking, “How the hell will answering this help me find my soulmate on campus?”
Some questions are valid: “What’s the biggest green flag you look for in a partner?”, “How do you like to show affection?”, “How do you like to receive affection?” These are common-sense questions that should be asked in any matchmaking form. But some questions are just downright dumb. I have to ask, why would answering the question, “best place to lock-in?” help me find someone who truly complements my life, unless I really want my significant other to only study in the Cocktail Lounge? Similarly, what does answering “Flirt with your Professor” for the question “Next year, I want to complete this task (from 161 Things Every Cornellian Should Do)” even signal, other than an HR nightmare waiting to happen.
I am aware that some questions in the survey are meant to be silly to make the questionnaire more entertaining, and I’ll be honest — it is fun to take. Though my qualms with Perfect Match lie in the fact that the concept of ‘matchmaking surveys’ boils down relationships into a list of multiple-choice questions. Questions cannot serve as tools to replace the lived experience of a relationship itself — meeting your partner for the first time, learning about each other's similarities and differences, understanding your values and building trust. And if a matchmaking survey truly wants to help you find ‘the one,’ it needs to ask serious and thoughtful questions.
Take Marriage Pact, for example. Created in 2017 by Stanford students, the service is available on 109 college campuses and serves a similar purpose to Perfect Match. However, the survey asks 50 questions about students’ “deeply-held values and beliefs” to find an “honest and qualitative match” on campus. The survey asks hard-hitting questions like, “How long do you wait to have sex when you start seeing someone?” “Should abortion always be legal?” and “Is it okay that my partner does harder drugs?” These are nuanced questions revealing a partner’s lifestyle and political and ideological beliefs. Each question is carefully crafted by Marriage Pact’s team to surface core values, communication styles and relationship preferences — making matches feel substantive, not superficial.
No wonder my friend at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is in a serious relationship with her Marriage Pact from last February. Tests like Perfect Match and Marriage Pact aren’t built the same. One is a heavily researched, science-based test, while the other is a glorified Buzzfeed quiz.
Perfect Match does boast a list of testimonials on its website, where many users have reported their matchmaking success stories. I do not doubt that Perfect Match has helped some people find their significant others — my issue is that they can do better. The platform advertises that they are “Cornell’s cupid,” and will find your match, but in reality, all this does is get students’ hopes up. People are genuinely hopeful to find a significant match with the quiz, and when Perfect Match falls flat, many are left disheartened about their future romantic prospects on campus. For now, the questionnaire feels too underdeveloped to promise what its advertising suggests.
While I hate to be pessimistic when talking about Perfect Match, I have to. To anyone taking the survey and wanting to find ‘the one,’ I wouldn’t get your hopes up. The results you receive on Feb. 12 will probably be less ‘soulmate revelation’ and more ‘mildly awkward acquaintance from chemistry lecture.’ So, be sure to take your matches with a grain of salt, and if you truly want to find your soulmate at Cornell, I’d suggest giving up on Perfect Match.
Sanika Saraf is a sophomore in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She can be reached at ss4353@cornell.edu.
