The College Choice and Its Connection to Marital Choice

cute-college-coupleI met my wife in college. 21 years of happy marriage (really!!!) and three children later, I can’t help but feel grateful for my college choice. I realize that serendipity and all sorts of other factors led to my happy family life and coming from a semi-dysfunctional one, I know the difference! But I attended a college that, in a literal sense, led me to meet my wife and, in a probabilistic sense, increased the odds that I would meet a good match.

A long while ago, I read that approximately 25% of those who attend college marry someone from the same college. Statistics change constantly and trends toward marrying later in life and not to marry at all have likely lowered this percentage significantly. I also note that I’m not rehashing the archaic notion of going to college for a “Mrs. Degree”. I triple emphasize that my comments relate equally to boys. Indeed, three of my high school buddies, out of a close circle of seven, met their wives in college.

“If Nick doesn’t go to UCONN, his plan is to meet a wealthy girl at Salve Regina and marry her.” Joked Mr. O’Connor about his son, a senior at Xavier High School in Middletown, CT. Think what you wish about the values underlying the joke but there is some truth that the odds of Nick  meeting his wife in college are likely higher than in any other general location.

So, yes, going to college does matter in unexpected ways.